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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113576">Sweet Reflection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/anomalation/pseuds/anomalation'>anomalation</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Mazes Lost [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ALL OF THE FRIENDSHIPS, Family Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jonathan is depressed, Longing, Multi, POV Multiple, Protective Siblings, Reluctant Intimacy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:02:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/anomalation/pseuds/anomalation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Let's do some retconning. Imagine Erica pulled the plug on that song after the first four lines. Everything happened thirty seconds earlier. Hopper made it out. Billy got stabbed a couple times but then the Mind Flayer collapsed. How would things go from there? </p><p>Season 3 continuance, with some edits to the final episode.</p><p>Featuring: Robin getting ingrained with the whole fam, Billy and Mike room-sharing antics, Will and El as psychic siblings, Joyce and Hopper as Team Parents, and a little bit of basically everything else.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Mazes Lost [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>We're all gonna be trapped inside for a while. This is the best I've got to offer in terms of distraction. </p><p>Robin is everything.</p><p>If you've read any of my other Stranger Things fics, you'll know the vibes but just to reiterate: I personally think it's interesting to "redeem" Billy in ways that also require him to own up to his shitty behavior but that also recognize the fact that he is canonically 17. A mere babe. So, expect some of that.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">The ambulance was full. Billy was strapped on the gurney, blood and black goo dripping onto the floor. El and Hopper sat on the bench across from him. Hopper was wheezing when he inhaled, but still he held her tight. And then there was Steve, sitting on the end of the bench, an ice pack on his forehead. A paramedic kept trying to check him for broken bones, but Steve kept swatting their hands away.</p><p class="p1">“For the last time,” he said. “I’m not dying, but I’m gonna puke if you keep shining that light in my eyes. It can wait.” That seemed to work. Steve got to close his eyes. His head was really throbbing something fierce now that he was out of adrenaline, and something inside of him felt wrong too. Internal whatever.</p><p class="p1">El reached out for his hand. “Steve,” she said.</p><p class="p1">He gave it to her. “I’m here, kiddo,” he said, and pressed the ice more firmly into his eye. It hurt, but not in a bad way.</p><p class="p1">“What happened to you?” she asked.</p><p class="p1">“Tortured by some Russians,” he said. “A long story. I’ll be okay. Long as that gate’s closed.”</p><p class="p1">“It is,” Hopper grunted.</p><p class="p1">The ambulance went silent, just the sound of the sirens and Billy’s labored breath. He didn’t sound good. The paramedic was doing a bunch of stuff to him, cutting his shirt off and putting tubes in his arm. Steve shut his eyes again.</p><p class="p1">“Someone should call your parents,” Hopper said to Steve.</p><p class="p1">“They’re in Rome,” Steve said without moving. “Gonna be a little hard to reach.”</p><p class="p1">“Next of kin?” Hopper said.</p><p class="p1">“Arizona. I’m fine,” Steve added.</p><p class="p1">“You’re not fine, you were beaten and drugged,” Hopper snapped.</p><p class="p1">“Okay, well, unless you’re volunteering to be my emergency contact, then I don’t have a ton of options.”</p><p class="p1">“Then I guess I’m volunteering,” Hopper said, even angrier. His tone of voice confused Steve for several long moments. Then he didn’t know what to say.</p><p class="p1">“I’ll need your contact information,” Steve finally mumbled, and Hopper exhaled half a laugh.</p><p class="p1">The drive was taking longer than it seemed like it should. Steve cracked an eye to see what was going on with Billy; there was a tube sticking out of his chest, and a mask over his mouth. Steve shut his eyes again.</p><p class="p1">The hospital was busy, to say the least. And it wasn’t just their crew here - a bunch of the Russian soldiers had been brought here, apparently. Four of them were wheeled past as Steve waited in line at the desk.</p><p class="p1">He was just about up when he heard someone say his name, and then somebody hugged him. Red hair. “Hey Max,” he said. His mouth felt like styrofoam.</p><p class="p1">She said something into his shirt that he didn’t really catch. “Huh?” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Is he still alive?” Max said, a little louder.</p><p class="p1">Steve held her tighter. “Yeah,” he said. “I think so. Your parents coming?”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay. Well, want to stay here with me?”</p><p class="p1">She nodded. “Is El okay?” she asked, and let go of him. “I mean I know it’s just her leg, but. It looked pretty bad.”</p><p class="p1">“She seemed alright,” Steve said. “Hopper’s with her, so that’ll be fine.” He was so, so tired. It had been an incredibly long day, and a long one before that and he was out of second winds but he had this kid. He had to be okay.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Max said. “You don’t look so good. Go sit down, I’ll talk to the nurse.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m fine,” he lied.</p><p class="p1">Max rolled her eyes. Steve felt dizzy. “Go sit,” she said again, and this time he listened.</p><p class="p1">The moment he sat down, he fell asleep. The next thing he knew, Max was nudging his arm and asking questions he answered without thinking. Name, age, that kind of thing. Steve couldn’t care less what was going on. He wanted to sleep forever.</p><p class="p1">He woke up with a start an indeterminate amount of time later. Max was gone. Instead, Will was sitting across from him, his mom asleep on his shoulder. “Hi,” he said to Steve.</p><p class="p1">“Hey. Max okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, she’s getting Skittles.”</p><p class="p1">Steve nodded sleepily. “Stock up on sugar. Good. We’ll be up all night anyways.” He ran a hand through his hair. “How long was I out? Did they call me back?”</p><p class="p1">Will shook his head sympathetically. “They’re kind of busy with all the people who got shot,” he said. “You think you’re okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Never better,” Steve said. “How’s your mom?”</p><p class="p1">“Worried,” Will said, looking over at her. “About Hopper. But okay. I just wanted to wait with her.”</p><p class="p1">A good kid. Steve really ought to spend more time with this one, he thought.</p><p class="p1">“Robin seems cool,” Will piped up after a second. “She’s a senior, right?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, yep.” Steve shifted in his chair; no luck, everything hurt. “She’s in band, unfortunately,” he added, with thinly veiled disgust. “But she has other redeeming… qualities.”</p><p class="p1">Will looked at Steve. “Are you, like. A thing?” he asked. Honestly, he sounded a little bummed out, which Steve didn’t totally get.</p><p class="p1">“No,” Steve said. “Nah.”</p><p class="p1">“You don’t like her?”</p><p class="p1">“No, I do,” Steve said. “But.” This was not his business to be telling a kid. Steve wanted to be back asleep. “It’s just. Not meant to be,” he finally said.</p><p class="p1">Will nodded. “You can go back to sleep,” he said. “I’ll wake you up when the nurse comes for you.”</p><p class="p1">“Thanks,” Steve said. “Thanks a million.”</p><p class="p1">“Of course.”</p><p class="p1">Every part of Steve ached, but that didn’t stop him from falling asleep basically instantly. And honestly, it was the best thing that happened in the last twenty-four hours.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">El sprained her ankle. She practiced saying it in her mind, so when Mike came in worried she could confidently tell him what was wrong. She sprained her ankle. It wasn’t bad. Four to six weeks. The IV was to replace fluids, and had antibiotics in case she caught something from the monster.</p><p class="p1">Hopper was fine, too. Broken ribs, fingers, and bruising. He needed rest. El practiced saying that too, in case Joyce asked. She didn’t have a lot else to do, sitting in this room alone. Hopper was asleep in a chair next to her. The TV was on. She needed the remote to turn it off. She couldn’t reach it, and it wasn’t coming when she wanted it to. But she wasn’t thinking about that, because if she did she’d freak out. And enough people were freaking out.</p><p class="p1">Max sped past the door, but came back when she saw El. “Oh my god,” she said, and gave her a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Is your ankle broken?”</p><p class="p1">“Just sprained,” El said, and shut her eyes. Max smelled like fireworks and blood. “I will be okay.”</p><p class="p1">“Good,” Max said fiercely, and when she pulled back she wiped her eyes. “Good, I’m so glad. I’m not ready to lose my best friend.”</p><p class="p1">El couldn’t help but smile, a bit. “Best friend,” she repeated. “Yes.”</p><p class="p1">“Will’s in the waiting room,” Max said. “Do you want me to go get him? We can sit with you. Can I get you candy or something?”</p><p class="p1">If El ate anything, she’d be sick, so she shook her head. “What about your brother?” she asked hesitantly.</p><p class="p1">Max bit her lip. “Still in surgery,” she said. “So I’m waiting.”</p><p class="p1">“Wait with me,” El said. So Max crawled in bed next to her and put her head down on El’s shoulder. El held her. And the last bit of tension faded. Things were over, for now.</p><p class="p1">“He was being better,” Max said softly. “Like he was before we moved here. I thought, like. I thought we might be cool again.”</p><p class="p1">El didn’t know what to say. “Why did he stop?” she finally asked. “Being cool.”</p><p class="p1">“Cuz we moved,” Max said. “Mom and Neil were mad at him about it, but I didn’t really care. We moved a couple times before that, it’s not like I had really good friends there. But before the summer, like. After Christmas. He was being my normal brother again.”</p><p class="p1">“Brother,” El repeated. “I only had a sister.”</p><p class="p1">“Totally different thing,” Max said. “I had a step sister before. But a brother is, like.” She scooted closer, and El wrapped her arm tighter around her. “They don’t know all the rules,” Max said. “And they aren’t good at telling the truth.”</p><p class="p1">“Brothers lie,” El suggested.</p><p class="p1">“Totally. All the time. Not in a mean way, but just because they’re dumb, mostly. But they protect you, too. Like, especially when you don’t need it. And in the most obnoxious ways.” Max sighed. “He just… I know he did bad things, but…”</p><p class="p1">“He saved us,” El said firmly. “The Mind Flayer did the bad things.”</p><p class="p1">Max let out a deep breath. “Exactly. I’m so glad you get it.”</p><p class="p1">“Totally,” El said.</p><p class="p1">They fell asleep in the bed together, holding each other, and stayed that way for a while.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Jonathan wasn’t good. They’d seen him after a lot of fights. This was worse. And he didn’t want any company, or any conversation. On top of that, Steve was passed out in the bed next to his. That’s what finally convinced Mom to leave him alone - Jonathan wouldn’t be alone. So she and Will went searching for El and Hopper.</p><p class="p1">Will found El’s room himself. He had a sense of her, like a homing beacon. Another leftover from the Upside Down - he didn’t like talking about it. His mom knew, he thought, based on the look she gave him. But she didn’t say anything. She pulled a couple extra chairs in the room and fell asleep leaning on Hopper’s shoulder. And then everyone was asleep but Will. Sometimes it felt like he was cursed, to always be around people but to feel alone.</p><p class="p1">But the Mind Flayer had been stopped. Things were over for now. And Will wasn’t thinking about this. So Will sat on the end of Eleven’s bed, and methodically separated the layers of a Kit Kat to eat.</p><p class="p1">“Weird,” El woke up to say.</p><p class="p1">“Not weird,” Will said. “Delicious.” El gave him quite a look. “Okay, also weird.”</p><p class="p1">“Let me try,” El said, and leaned forward. Max stayed sleeping on her pillow. “Why?”</p><p class="p1">“Why dissect it like this?” Will asked, and she nodded. “To taste everything separate. And because there’s not a ton to do here.”</p><p class="p1">El smiled, one corner of her mouth. “Lame,” she said, and copied what he was doing. And after she ate the first thin layer, she said, “It is good.”</p><p class="p1">“I told you it was,” Will said, smiling. “I can go get another one if you want.”</p><p class="p1">“Yes,” El said, and licked her finger. “Yum.”</p><p class="p1">“Yum,” Will echoed, and he was moving to get off the bed when he got those full body chills he’d been getting all along that meant the Mind Flayer was near. But the rift was closed, Will reminded himself.</p><p class="p1">“What is it?” El asked.</p><p class="p1">“I have the feeling again,” Will said, not wanting it to be true. She gave him her hand. “It’s probably a false alarm,” he began, and then two nurses wheeled Billy into the room.</p><p class="p1">“No way,” Hopper said, waking up at the sound. “There’s no damn way you’re putting him in a room with my daughter.”</p><p class="p1">“You’d rather it be one of the Russians?” a nurse answered shortly.</p><p class="p1">Hopper hauled himself to his feet. “I’d rather you let her go home,” he began in a dangerous rumble.</p><p class="p1">“She’s staying,” the nurse said. “You can go, if you’re uncomfortable.”</p><p class="p1">“Put him in with the other guys, not my daughter. She needs protection!” Hopper basically yelled, but the nurse was gone.</p><p class="p1">Mom was waking up too. “Right,” she said. “Cuz yelling at nurses always works.”</p><p class="p1">El gave Will a furtive glance. Will rolled his eyes, and then he looked over at Billy. He was asleep, strapped to the bed at his wrists and ankles and waist. Thick bandages covered his torso, and most importantly, the black veins in his face were gone. But that didn’t explain why he set Will’s spider-sense off.</p><p class="p1">Max was waking up too, at Hopper’s yelling. When she saw Billy, she hopped up and hurried to his side. “Billy?” she said. She reached out for his shoulder, but didn’t touch him.</p><p class="p1">He didn’t answer. He wasn’t even conscious, by the look of it. “Don’t get too close,” Will said. “If the Mind Flayer still has him, it’s not safe.”</p><p class="p1">“How do we tell?” Max said.</p><p class="p1">El and Will exchanged a look. “Not sure,” Eleven said.</p><p class="p1">“Heat,” Will said.</p><p class="p1">Max didn’t like that. She looked at her brother again. “Hey, kid,” Hopper said to her. “Your parents on their way?”</p><p class="p1">“They didn’t pick up,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“What do you mean, didn’t pick up?” Mom demanded. “Let’s see if they fucking pick up when I call. Both their kids in the fucking hospital? I’ve never…”</p><p class="p1">“Mom,” Will said. “Please. It’s not gonna be any better if they come.”</p><p class="p1">He regretted saying it basically immediately. Hopper deflated. Mom made a face, and came to hug Will around the shoulders. Max was turning pink but her face was fierce. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’ll just stay with El. They’ll get here eventually. The nurses left like fifty voicemails for them, they’ll get them at some point. Will, help me,” she added imperiously.</p><p class="p1">Will got up to help like she asked. She wanted to turn the bed to face them more, so Billy would see them when he woke up. That didn’t seem like a great idea, but Will helped anyways. He expected to be scared, but Billy was strapped down. No sign of the Mind Flayer. Kind of sad, Will thought. He remembered being in that bed. It was claustrophobic.</p><p class="p1">“Do we think he’s still possessed?” Mom asked, coming over to look at Billy.</p><p class="p1">“Maybe,” El said.</p><p class="p1">“Probably,” Will said. “It didn’t come out of him like it did for me.” Joyce squeezed his arm, and they both backed up a few steps.</p><p class="p1">Hopper paced crossly. “If this kid might still be possessed, I don’t want him anywhere near El,” he said. “Not even for a night.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m okay,” El said. “You should get a bed, and rest.”</p><p class="p1">“No chance, kiddo,” Hopper said. “You’re here, I’m here.”</p><p class="p1">“Me too, honey,” Mom said.</p><p class="p1">“And me,” Will added. “We’re not leaving you alone.” He looked around at the adults and got a couple nods.</p><p class="p1">“And Max,” El said. “We’re not leaving her either.” She gave Will a firm look, and Will obediently backed her up.</p><p class="p1">“No way,” he said.</p><p class="p1">Max pretended to smile, grateful. She sat in a chair next to Billy’s bed. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m sure our parents are on their way.”</p><p class="p1">Everyone settled and went back to sleep. Will slept on his mom’s shoulder, and she slept on Hopper’s. El ended up on her side, facing them and hugging a pillow. And Max slumped over in her chair next to her brother. As Will was drifting off, he tried to think about what he’d do if it was Jonathan in that bed, or in the Mind Flayer’s grasp. He’d do just about anything, he concluded before he fell asleep.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Max woke up with a start. She looked at the clock - 4:16 am. The room was quiet. El’s machines beeped, Billy’s too. Hopper was snoring. For a second, she couldn’t tell what had woken her. But then Billy twitched, and Max stood up.</p><p class="p1">His eyes were open. “Billy,” Max said, and he locked eyes with her. “Is it like, actually you?” she added, more softly, scared.</p><p class="p1">He didn’t say anything, but after a second, he nodded. Then he looked past her, at the Byers-Hopper family, and back at her.</p><p class="p1">“They put you and El in the same room to keep you away from Russians,” Max said. “And she’s got a lot of family here.”</p><p class="p1">Billy took several deep breaths that wheezed in his chest. “Dad?” he said. She could see dread on his face, how he usually looked when his dad was around.</p><p class="p1">“Not here,” Max said. “They aren’t answering the phone, so.”</p><p class="p1">Her brother nodded, and shut his eyes again, but he wasn’t passing out again. “Was it all real?” he asked next, so quiet.</p><p class="p1">“I think so,” Max answered. “But, on the plus side, we definitely killed the thing. And Hopper and Ms. Byers sealed up the gate, so. We’re safe for now. Though we thought we were safe last year, I guess, but we didn’t know Russians were headed for the Upside Down.”</p><p class="p1">Billy’s arm moved, halted abruptly at the extent the cuffs would let him go. He was reaching for her, Max thought, and she closed the distance for him. She took his hand, and he squeezed tightly.</p><p class="p1">“Talking too much,” she said for him. “Right. Sorry. I just.” Her throat closed up. She wiped her eyes abruptly, wiped the tears away as fast as she could. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to talk to you again, so.”</p><p class="p1">“’S fine,” he said. His voice was weird. Max looked at him to see he looked like he might cry. Or at least that’s what she thought. She usually looked away when he was breaking down. “Haven’t talked to anyone, since.”</p><p class="p1">Someone stirred, and Billy went silent. It was just Will, Max turned to see. He was awake, and seemed caught. After a moment of indecision, he got up and came over. “Sorry,” he whispered to Max. “I’m a light sleeper.” He came over to stand near her, protective.</p><p class="p1">“It’s okay,” Max said. “Billy’s awake.”</p><p class="p1">“Him?” Will asked. “Or the Mind Flayer.”</p><p class="p1">“Him, I think.” Max looked back at Billy. “But I guess I wouldn’t know.”</p><p class="p1">Will shook his head. “You’d know,” he said. “Mom could tell, once she knew it was happening.”</p><p class="p1">Max was very interested in that. There hadn’t exactly been enough time while everything was happening to pick Will’s brain about what was happening with her brother. “How?” she asked. “The black veins?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” Will said. “I didn’t get those till the end. But it didn’t sound like me talking, I think. We can ask Mom once she wakes up.” He looked over at Max. “If his hand is warm, then it’s him.”</p><p class="p1">Billy’s hand felt normal. Not cold. Max looked at him and saw him register the same fact before he took his hand out of hers. “Who’re you?” he asked Will.</p><p class="p1">“Will,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“Jonathan Byers’ little brother,” Will added. “I was possessed last year.” He sighed deeply, and scratched the back of his neck.</p><p class="p1">“Sit down,” Max said suddenly, as it occurred to her that Will had a long day too. “You must be exhausted.” She stood up and manhandled Will into her chair.</p><p class="p1">“What, like you’re not?” he said. “Please, Max.”</p><p class="p1">“I’ll…” Max looked at her brother. He couldn’t stop her if he wanted to, but part of her thought he wouldn’t if he could. So she climbed over onto the end of his bed, and she sat there, between his strapped-down legs.</p><p class="p1">Billy looked at her. He had to draw several deep breaths before he could talk. “Sleep,” he said. “Leave me alone.”</p><p class="p1">“No way,” Max said, and shook her head. “Nope.” He was gearing up to talk again, so she talked faster. “You can go back to trying to tell me what to do, but tonight you almost died saving my best friend’s life. I’m staying up.”</p><p class="p1">Will raised his eyebrows. “Damn,” he said, and Billy seemed to agree. He shut his eyes again, and shifted a little. Couldn’t move far, in these restraints.</p><p class="p1">“How did you get it out of you?” Max asked quietly, glancing at the still-sleeping three to make sure she wasn’t waking them up. “When you were possessed.”</p><p class="p1">“Uh.” Will scratched his forehead. “Well. Mom and Jonathan and Nancy took me to a cabin and tied me to a bed and turned on twenty space heaters and built a really big fire. And then when that didn’t totally work, they stuck a hot poker in my side.”</p><p class="p1">“Whoa, what?” Max said in surprise.</p><p class="p1">Will nodded. “Got the scars to prove it.”</p><p class="p1">“Can I see?” Max asked. So Will pulled up the one side of his shirt to show them the spots of scarred burns, pink against his pale skin. “Wow,” Max whispered.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Will said, and let his shirt back down. “I’m sorry,” he added in a bit of a rush. “If I shouldn’t have said what I said. About your parents. I know we haven’t, like. Talked about it. And that’s fine.”</p><p class="p1">Max nodded, picking at the knot of her shoelaces. “It’s okay,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“And I don’t even…” Will began, and stopped.</p><p class="p1">“How’d you know?” Max said instead.</p><p class="p1">“Know what?”</p><p class="p1">“Y’know. The parents thing,” she said, and Billy gave her a look with murder in his eyes. “What, he guessed,” she added.</p><p class="p1">Will huffed out a laugh. “I’m, um.” He scooted closer in his chair, right up to Billy’s bedside, his back to everyone else. And he glanced at Billy for just a second, before he focused on Max only. “My dad’s not around for a reason.”</p><p class="p1">Max screwed up her mouth and nodded, avoiding her brother’s eyes. “Right,” she said. “Was it, like.”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t really remember,” Will said. Max knew by now when he was lying. “It’s okay, though. My mom’s awesome. I don’t… miss him.” That was still lying, but Max didn’t point that out. “But I had a feeling,” Will finally said, and that was the real explanation.</p><p class="p1">“Well, thanks,” Max said. “I’m bad at… explaining.”</p><p class="p1">“Shouldn’t have to… have to explain shit,” Billy said between deep breaths. “None… none of their business.”</p><p class="p1">Max rolled her eyes. “I mean it’s kind of their business,” she said. “If Neil comes in and wakes them all up.”</p><p class="p1">The idea of that scared him; she saw it in his heart rate monitor. Will saw it too, in a glance, but he didn’t mention it. He looked at Billy. “Do you feel him?” he asked timidly.</p><p class="p1">Billy looked at him, jaw clenched, and then looked at Max. He shook his head infinitesimally. “But that doesn’t mean,” he begins in a rasp, and gets winded.</p><p class="p1">“He could be hiding,” Will said. “Yeah.” He looked at Max with an idea in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything just then. He sat up with Max until she fell asleep. And Max thought, maybe she had two best friends now.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Joyce woke up before anybody else, so she went to the drinking fountain to rinse her mouth out. Long nights always made her thirsty.</p><p class="p1">She came back quickly, though. Hospital full of Russians? She wasn’t leaving her son anywhere, even with Hopper. Who, by the way, she really needed awake to talk to.</p><p class="p1">Like he could hear her thoughts, Hopper was stretching in the hall as she made her way back to the room. “Hey,” he said quietly when he saw her.</p><p class="p1">“Heya,” she echoed back. “Kids are still asleep?”</p><p class="p1">He nodded. “Including the one that almost killed the others,” he said pointedly.</p><p class="p1">“Possessed by the thing that had Will,” Joyce corrected him sternly. “You’re telling me that counts against him?”</p><p class="p1">“Well, I don’t really feel like it counts towards anything good,” Hopper said, hands on his hips indignantly. She always thought it was hot, when he got like this. A little ridiculous. “I’m supposed to feel good about that?” he added.</p><p class="p1">“You’re supposed to have a little more understanding,” Joyce said. “Just a touch.”</p><p class="p1">Hopper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright,” he said. “Okay. I’ll consider it. As a favor to the woman taking me out on a date Friday.”</p><p class="p1">“I’ll take it,” Joyce smiled. “Go find a nurse, alright? Let’s see if we can get El discharged.”</p><p class="p1">He went, with a bit of a limp, and she snuck back in the room. Max was asleep on her brother’s bed, Will in a chair, El in her bed. It was such a relief that Will wasn’t the one in a bed this time. He’d had more than his fair share of hospital beds.</p><p class="p1">Along those lines, Joyce could not believe any parent could just neglect to notice both of their children were missing all night and not answer their phone. It was staggering. And she refused to leave without some sort of resolution on this. No way.</p><p class="p1">Waiting for Hopper to get back, Joyce sat and stewed over it. She chewed on a nail and ruminated. This was unacceptable.</p><p class="p1">El woke up first. “Is something wrong?” she asked quietly, and Joyce looked up to see the girl looking at her.</p><p class="p1">“No, honey,” Joyce said. This was a kid she could do something about, so Joyce got up and scooted into bed next to El to hold her. “Nothing’s wrong,” Joyce repeated. “Except for the two orphans in the other bed.”</p><p class="p1">“Max should sleep over,” El said.</p><p class="p1">“Max is absolutely invited to sleep over whenever she wants,” Joyce said, and kissed El’s hair. “Wait,” she said then. “So, Hopper told you you’re moving in with us? Temporarily.”</p><p class="p1">“Yes.”</p><p class="p1">“Are you… do you feel okay about that?” Joyce asked carefully.</p><p class="p1">“Yes. Will and I are very good friends,” El said firmly. “We can share. Jonathan gets his own room. No problem.”</p><p class="p1">Joyce smiled. “Wonderful,” she said. “No problem. How’s your foot feel?”</p><p class="p1">“Not bad,” El said. “Sore.”</p><p class="p1">She was a strong girl. Joyce had seen what that foot looked like. It was worse than just sore. “We’ll get some medicine to take home,” Joyce said, and El nodded.</p><p class="p1">When Hop came back with the nurse, everybody woke up. “So when do we leave?” he asked, in his gruff impatient tone that never went over well. “Her foot’s fine.”</p><p class="p1">“Her foot’s not why she’s here, Hopper,” the nurse told him. “Her exposure to an unknown creature via puncture wound is. It’s the reason all of you are here.”</p><p class="p1">“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p class="p1">“I’m sorry, I thought you were informed last night. You all had contact with the creature. You’re staying here until further notice.”</p><p class="p1">Hopper stormed out, muttering about how unacceptable it was. Joyce tried to maintain composure. One of them had to. Maybe they had been informed. Maybe she missed it.</p><p class="p1">The nurse started talking Billy then, and Joyce did a bit of eavesdropping. “We’ve tried your parents,” the nurse was saying. “We still can’t reach them, and we really need an adult to make some treatment decisions. Any idea how we could get ahold of them?”</p><p class="p1">“Hello,” Joyce said, without fully making the choice to get involved. “Hi. I’m a family friend, I’ll be here until their parents are. What can I help you with?”</p><p class="p1">"You're a family friend," the nurse repeated.</p><p class="p1">Joyce looked at Max, and answered the unspoken question in her eyes with a nod. "Yeah," Max said. "She can be the adult, if we need one." And her brother, Billy, nodded once. He didn't seemed thrilled about it. Joyce wasn't really that concerned.</p><p class="p1">And either the nurse believed them, or she didn't care. Either way, she looked at Joyce and started filling her in. "Last night, we operated to repair several of his organs. He had a collapsed lung, several broken ribs, a broken collarbone, major trauma to his liver and left kidney, and a gastrointestinal perforation."</p><p class="p1">Halfway through that monologue, Joyce snapped at Hopper and mimed writing. He handed over his pad and pen with an eye roll, and Joyce wrote down everything. "Okay," she said. "And is any of that going to be a problem? Or did you fix it."</p><p class="p1">"We were able to repair his intestine and lung, we stitched up the large puncture wounds and properly aligned his ribs and collarbone for healing. And we stopped his internal bleeding with cauterization, for now. So at the moment, rest and careful monitoring of his diet should be all he needs. But we know very little about the black goo we found in his injuries and how it might've affected his system."</p><p class="p1">Joyce nodded, still writing. "Goo aside," she said. "What's recovery look like?"</p><p class="p1">"Four to six weeks of bed rest, and then we'll re-evaluate about what recovery looks like."</p><p class="p1">"Give me a likely scenario," Joyce pressed.</p><p class="p1">"Likely... six weeks of bed rest, another four of light activity with no strain, and then easing back into life."</p><p class="p1">That would be almost three months. Joyce had a hunch that wasn't possible. "Okay," she said. "And what options are we choosing between today?”</p><p class="p1">Before the nurse could answer, there was a commotion out in the hall. People rushed past in the hall, and not doctors or anything - they looked like soldiers. Joyce grabbed Will and held him tight, but they didn't come in. They were clearly doing something else. "I'll be back," the nurse said, and hurried out into the hall. Joyce heard her telling someone about the dangers of moving someone, and then saw a bed being wheeled by.</p><p class="p1">Hopper moved to the door, and El got up on her one good foot. "I can fight," she said, and hopped over to stand at the foot of Billy's bed, by Max.</p><p class="p1">"Shh," Hopper said out of the corner of his mouth.</p><p class="p1">They all paused, watching. The soldiers or whatever just... took, all the injured Russians and left as quickly as they came. Joyce looked at Will, and then at Hopper when he turned back to them. "Another coverup," she said.</p><p class="p1">"Another?" Max repeated. "What was the first?"</p><p class="p1">"I'm a communist," El said solemnly. "And a spy."</p><p class="p1">"Long story," Hopper said, and stared at Joyce until she looked at him. "Are you seriously staying here?" he said. “I’m a cop, y’know. I can get us out.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m staying,” she answered. When he gave her a look, she gave him one right back. "Hop! I'm not leaving two kids-" Billy opened his mouth, but Joyce pointed at him. "KIDS," she continued, "to figure out this shit until their parents decide to show up. No way. Do what you have to.“</p><p class="p1">He turned to El. “I’m not breaking out,” El said preemptively. “I could be dangerous.”</p><p class="p1">So then Hopper had to let El stay, which he let everyone know he was not thrilled about, and the kids all talked about calling the other guys who’d been allowed to go. Generally, they didn't seem aware that Max's older brother had tried to kill them and was now within arms reach. But he was tied down, and Will wasn't stupid. So Joyce tried to relax.</p><p class="p1">It was futile, of course. She hadn't been relaxed since her twenties. But she did an alright job of faking it, she thought.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Nancy was sort of impressed that Mike had managed to go eight hours without seeing El after the events of the mall. It was a good thing, really, that they’d been allowed to go home. It was also nerve-wracking to be away from everyone important. She was not nearly as patient as Mike seemed to be. By the time he knocked on her door, asking her to take him to the hospital, Nancy had been dressed for two hours and had, in her spare time, put together a bag of supplies to take with them. No one could ever say she wasn't prepared.</p><p class="p1">Mike was quiet in the car. When they were a few streets away from being there, Nancy glanced over at him. "Hey," she said.</p><p class="p1">"Hey," he echoed.</p><p class="p1">"Are you okay? Did you sleep okay?"</p><p class="p1">He shrugged, which seemed like a clear no.</p><p class="p1">"How do you feel?"</p><p class="p1">"I dunno, Nance, how do you feel?" he said, a little sulkily.</p><p class="p1">Nancy raised her eyebrows at him. "Well," she said. "Not great. Yesterday was... well, the last couple days. Honestly, kind of the whole summer."</p><p class="p1">That piqued his interest. She felt him look over at her. "The internship?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">"Yes," she said. "It sucked ass. But, I got to kill two of them with a fire extinguisher. So."</p><p class="p1">Mike snorted. "Nice." He fiddled with his lock. "Dunno," he finally said. "I feel okay. I've got a headache cuz Billy pushed me into a wall, but. That'll go away. And Billy might die, anyways."</p><p class="p1">"He's not dying."</p><p class="p1">"You don't know that."</p><p class="p1">"I think he'll be fine," Nancy said instead, because she couldn't really imagine anything different. That wouldn't make any kind of sense. "El's definitely fine," she added.</p><p class="p1">"Fine, but she burnt out her powers," Mike said. "That's not good."</p><p class="p1">"And Steve was tortured by Russians, and Hop got beat up, and we almost got hit by a car, and Jonathan was tossed around a room like a rag doll," Nancy snapped. “A lot of things are not good.”</p><p class="p1">"I know," Mike said loudly. "That's the point. Everything was..."</p><p class="p1">Terrifying, Nancy surmised. She shouldn't blame him for being shellshocked. "Yeah," she said softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't sleep well either. It's so stupid that they banned us.”</p><p class="p1">Mike nodded. "Totally stupid," he agreed.</p><p class="p1">“They’ll have to let us in.”</p><p class="p1">The waiting room was surprisingly empty. Or, surprising until Nancy realized all the people the Mind Flayer hurt were all dead and goop now. She felt a little sick, as she and Mike got in line behind a girl. "I just was wondering if he was okay, can’t you even tell me that?” the girl said, and Nancy recognized her.</p><p class="p1">"Robin?"</p><p class="p1">The girl turned around, and her shoulders dropped in relief. It was Robin after all. "Okay," she said. "Great. Do you know where Steve is?"</p><p class="p1">"They kept him overnight,” Nancy said. "He's resting. He called me last night."</p><p class="p1">Robin nodded. She had big eyes, Nancy thought. Very expressive. ”Okay," she said. "And the kids?"</p><p class="p1">"Dustin and Lucas and Erica made it home fine," Mike said. "They radioed in."</p><p class="p1">Robin nodded some more, and it seemed like she might burst into tears. "And everybody else?" she asked.</p><p class="p1">“They’re here,” Nancy said. “Quarantined. We aren’t allowed back, unless that’s changed.”</p><p class="p1">“Not unless you have a signed waiver from your parents saying they’re alright with you risking death,” Mike said glumly.</p><p class="p1">“Forgot that at home,” Robin said, and plopped down into a chair.</p><p class="p1">Nancy sat down next to her. “There has to be a way back,” she muttered.</p><p class="p1">“I’ll find a shovel,” Robin whispered back.</p><p class="p1">“Not that,” Nancy said, though she did smile. “A way to convince her. Or infect ourselves so she can’t complain.”</p><p class="p1">“Damn, Wheeler,” Robin said. “You’re hardcore.”</p><p class="p1">Mike tapped Nancy’s shoulder. “Side door,” he said. “Right?”</p><p class="p1">Right. Yes. Nancy knew this layout. She’d ran it before, two floors up. When the desk nurse was distracted, the three of them hurried through the door. Mike held it carefully so it wouldn’t slam closed. “Now where?” Robin asked in a whisper.</p><p class="p1">“This way.” Nancy threaded through a few turns and sets of more doors. She took a white coat off a chair they passed, put it on in a smooth motion, made sure to look purposeful, and wasn’t stopped by anyone so it must’ve worked. Then she stopped at a nurse’s station, and flipped a binder open. There was a list of patients. There were all the names most important to her. Rooms 108 and 114.</p><p class="p1">“Look who’s feisty, Nancy Drew,” Robin said with a bit of a smirk. Somehow, this way, it felt like a complement.</p><p class="p1">“Rooms are that way,” Nancy answered, and pointed.</p><p class="p1">Mike led the way. Robin stuck close by Nancy's side. "Does this kind of thing happen a lot?" she asked. "You seemed pretty familiar with the whole, shooting a gun at an oncoming car, sneaking into a hospital situation."</p><p class="p1">"Well." Nancy was very flattered. "Not a lot. Three times, so far. In the last two years." That did sound like a lot, now that she said it. "But the Russian spies, that was totally new."</p><p class="p1">"I guess that's a relief," Robin said, sounding bewildered. Nancy couldn't blame her. "Is there some sort of pamphlet, or something to like explain everything that happened? Like, the telepathic kid, and the demonic possession and the monster made of people? Apparently? That are all things that happened."</p><p class="p1">Nancy powered through the feeling of absolute exhaustion that washed over her at the thought of all that. "We'll invite you to the next team meeting," she said.</p><p class="p1">“Thanks. I’d appreciate it,” Robin said, sounding a little sarcastic. Nancy liked that, though. It was new.</p><p class="p1">It wasn’t just El and the other kids in room 108. Billy was there too, unconscious. Nancy and Robin drew up short at the door. Mike, however, was unconcerned; he ran over to El’s bed and hugged her tight.</p><p class="p1">“Uh, is it just me, or is the guy that tried to kill us in the room here?” Robin said.</p><p class="p1">“It’s him again,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“For now,” Will added, and Max gave him quite the glare. “I’m just saying! Mom and Hopper are here too, but they’re arguing in the stairwell.”</p><p class="p1">“What about Jonathan?” Nancy asked Will. “How is he?”</p><p class="p1">“Sleeping,” Will said. “He and Steve are sharing a room.”</p><p class="p1">That was not news Nancy was necessarily excited to hear. “I’m gonna go check in on them,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“I’m coming,” Robin nodded.</p><p class="p1">Interesting. They were really some kind of friends. Or maybe she was the latest victim to Steve Harrington’s shallow emotional manipulation, Nancy suggested to herself, before she decided that wasn’t fair. Steve didn’t mean to manipulate her. And they both had a lot of their plate.</p><p class="p1">The boys’ room was dark. Nancy waited in the doorway, her eyes adjusting. "God," she sighed to herself.</p><p class="p1">Both people stirred, and two people identically mumbled, "Nancy?"</p><p class="p1">"Wow," Robin said. "You have such power."</p><p class="p1">"Robin?" Steve added, sounding bewildered.</p><p class="p1">"Yep, it's me." Robin squeezed past Nancy to the far bed, where Steve was curled up. So Jonathan was in the near bed; Nancy went to his bedside and put her hand on his arm.</p><p class="p1">"How are you?" she asked. "How's your back?"</p><p class="p1">"It's my ribs," Jonathan said. "And they hurt." He was grumpy. That was reasonable. Nancy screwed her face up, trying to figure out what to say next.</p><p class="p1">Across the room, Robin poked at Steve's side. "You're not awake, are you?" she said resignedly.</p><p class="p1">"I'm so awake." Steve was not awake. "And so alive."</p><p class="p1">"Good." Robin did something else Nancy couldn't exactly see. Maybe fixing Steve's hair. "Is it weird to watch someone sleep?" she asked of the room.</p><p class="p1">"No," Nancy said. "And we'll only do it for a second."</p><p class="p1">There were two chairs, in between the beds. Nancy and Robin sat in them, shoulder to shoulder. Jonathan turned over to face them and fell back asleep. And sure, it was a little creepy to watch. But Nancy didn't think anyone would begrudge them a little creepiness, this one time.</p><p class="p1">"It's not like they'll stop breathing," Robin said after a second.</p><p class="p1">"No," Nancy agreed quietly. "But still."</p><p class="p1">"Still," Robin repeated. So they stayed where they were.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Lucas had several plans in case he wasn't allowed in. A lot of them involved calling Erica. She was currently grounded, for breaking into a Russian spy base and lying about where she was. But when Lucas told her he was sneaking in, she'd said, "If your nerd ass friends need help, I'll take the call." Which was friendly, for her.</p><p class="p1">But Lucas didn't have to do any of that. He was at the desk, trying to reason with the nurse - that was plan A - when she got a phone call. A top secret phone call, that he couldn't hear the other end of and couldn't make any sense of her part in. But when she hung up, she let him go back.</p><p class="p1">Will's mom explained it to them. Dr. Owens, who had been working with Will last year, called the hospital and got them to let everyone leave. Everybody was relieved, except for Lucas.</p><p class="p1">"Well," he said after Joyce left to tell the older kids in the other room. "I guess you don't need these." He held up the bag he'd carefully packed for Max.</p><p class="p1">"What is it?" she frowned, and unzipped it.</p><p class="p1">It was clothes, and two bottles of water and a hairbrush, and a watch with a thermometer in it and a pair of shoes in a ziploc bag. He'd noticed hers were covered in black stuff and blood last night. But she was going home, so bringing anything was kind of a moot point.</p><p class="p1">Max dug through the bag to see everything, and then looked up at him. "Thank you," she said. And it seemed like she meant it. "I'm not going anywhere. So this is great. Exactly what I need."</p><p class="p1">Lucas frowned. "You're not going?"</p><p class="p1">"My brother can't leave," Max said. "So I'm staying too." She felt really strongly about this, she gave him a very stern look to tell him she didn't want to argue about it.</p><p class="p1">"Step-brother," Lucas said, with a look over at the guy. Billy wasn't awake. Lucas was kind of surprised he was alive, actually. "He's not even conscious. And you're exhausted."</p><p class="p1">Max didn't argue that point. She was totally exhausted. But she just shook her head. "I have to stay," she said. "You don't have to get it, and you definitely don't have to stay with me. But." She sniffed, hard, and suddenly Lucas noticed she was close to crying. "It's just something I've got to do."</p><p class="p1">"Okay," Lucas said. "That's cool. Do you want me to stay?"</p><p class="p1">"Do you even want to stay?"</p><p class="p1">At one point, a few weeks ago maybe, Lucas would've come back at her hard, escalated the situation. But he learned something in the last few days, and he tried it out. "You don't have to pick a fight," he said after a second. "I'm just trying to figure out how to help you."</p><p class="p1">"Why," Max said. "My brother almost killed you."</p><p class="p1">"Good thing I'm not trying to date him," Lucas said, which made Max smile like he hoped it would. "It's fine," he said. "That has nothing to do with how I feel about you."</p><p class="p1">Max gave him a long look. "Are you completely sure, though?"</p><p class="p1">"Yes. I'm sure. Max."</p><p class="p1">There was something she wouldn't tell him. Lucas knew that much for certain. She would barely look at him. "I want you to go," she said. "And I'll stay. But I'm not mad at you, I just. I have to deal with this family stuff."</p><p class="p1">All summer, she'd been avoiding family stuff, if he was judging by how often she slept over at his or El's house. "Okay," Lucas said. "Well, I'm here if you need anything. Can I call tonight, to make sure you're okay?"</p><p class="p1">"Yeah, that'd be nice. And thank you. For the clothes," she added, with an awkward sort of smile.</p><p class="p1">"Any time."</p><p class="p1">He and Mike and Will and El left together. Dustin and his mom picked them up. Just like old times. "How's Max?" Dustin asked.</p><p class="p1">"Not good," Lucas said. "I think."</p><p class="p1">"Totally," Mike said. "Like imagine if Nancy tried to... you know," he finished awkwardly, looking at Mrs. Henderson in the front. "Who knows what I'd do."</p><p class="p1">"The Mind Flayer using Nancy," Will said quietly.</p><p class="p1">Right. Because of course Will wanted to be specific about whose fault it is. Lucas looked past Mike and El to Will. "Do you think it's still in him?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">"I don't know," Will said.</p><p class="p1">That wasn't exactly encouraging. "We have to support Max," Lucas said.</p><p class="p1">"Yes," El said. "We need a plan."</p><p class="p1">"You need to rest," Mike said. "Nothing's happening right now. You need to recharge, for when things are happening again. It won't help anybody if you're tired."</p><p class="p1">Lucas rolled his eyes. "Nice," he said. "Good job hiding who you really care about."</p><p class="p1">"Us being burned out isn't going to help Max," Mike insisted. "I do care about her."</p><p class="p1">"You haven't liked her since she moved in. You made your mind up instantly."</p><p class="p1">"Says the guy dating her.”</p><p class="p1">“Mike!” El said in dismay.</p><p class="p1">Dustin turned around in the front seat, much to his mother's alarm. “Enough,” he said firmly. “We all care about Max. We all want the best for her. And we’re all exhausted. We’re goddamn exhausted. So shut up, and stop picking at each other.”</p><p class="p1">“Sorry,” Mike said after a second.</p><p class="p1">“Me too,” Lucas said, to keep the peace. But that wouldn’t last forever.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Nancy left, eventually. “I’m the only person left at the paper,” she said, “and someone has to put out the story of what happened at the mall. Or at least what the government has told me to write.”</p><p class="p1">Robin huffed. “Well, at least they’re being open about it this time.”</p><p class="p1">“Good point.” Nancy came over and gave Robin a quick hug goodbye, all bony shoulders and surprisingly strong arms. Robin squeezed back with a tight smile. Nancy wouldn’t hug her if she knew. “Bye.”</p><p class="p1">“Bye,” Robin said, and Jonathan echoed it. And then, once Nancy was truly and completely gone, Robin spoke to Jonathan. “Hey. Fair warning, Byers. If I find out you took creep shots of me too, I’ll take you to court. Not senior prom.”</p><p class="p1">Jonathan started coughing. Robin stayed where she was. It was important for her not to show any vulnerability here, so he’d know she meant it. “Okay,” he said. “I won’t, but I… Nancy and I talked about it, we worked it out.”</p><p class="p1">“Good,” Robin said. “I’ll come back to check on the two of you in a second. Any requests? Some water or a snack?”</p><p class="p1">“Water,” Jonathan said after a second. “Please. Thank you.”</p><p class="p1">“You’re welcome.”</p><p class="p1">Steve was still not awake yet, so Robin ruffled his hair and headed back down the hall to the other room she knew people in. It was empty, when she arrived. Just Max, sitting in a chair looking at her brother, and Billy, in bed.</p><p class="p1">“Where is everybody?” she asked Max.</p><p class="p1">“Dustin’s mom came to pick everybody up,” Max said. “And Joyce is getting a snack from the vending machines.”</p><p class="p1">“And they all just left you?”</p><p class="p1">“I made them.” Max was staying perfectly still.</p><p class="p1">Robin was concerned about this, so she stayed in the doorway. Max was just looking at her brother, who was unconscious. “Are you… okay?” Robin asked after a moment.</p><p class="p1">Max burst into tears.</p><p class="p1">Robin, unfortunately, panicked. “Oh no,” she said. “Oh boy. Great. Okay. Well.” She came over to Max’s side, and put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “I’m sorry. Can I get you anything?”</p><p class="p1">Instead of talking, Max threw her arms around Robin’s waist and began crying into her shirt. And Robin did what she thought was right; she hugged her back.</p><p class="p1">“I’m just,” Max began, which a shuddering deep breath. “I don’t know what to do,” she said in the utmost despair. “Everything I do is wrong.”</p><p class="p1">“I know the feeling,” Robin said.</p><p class="p1">“I can’t make anything right,” Max sobbed. “I can’t get my parents to show up or get Mike to like me or my <em>brother</em> to like me. I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t get Billy to snap out of it. I’m not…” She had to pause for breath. “And I think I’m getting one thing right,” she said, pulling back and wiping her face on her sleeves. “Staying here is like, a good thing to do. But now I’m alone, and I made Lucas upset and I don’t know what to do.”</p><p class="p1">Robin pulled her in for a tighter hug. Now that she got it all out, Max’s sobs subsided. She was just crying, not choking on her tears anymore. Robin crouched in front of her, and looked her in the eyes.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know what a lot of that means,” she said. “Because I’m sort of new to this group. But I know a couple things. Okay? I know that you staying here is a totally badass move most people wouldn’t do. And what your parents do has nothing to do with you. Hear me?”</p><p class="p1">Max nodded, wiping her eyes again.</p><p class="p1">“And I also know that you’re not staying here alone,” Robin said. “I’ll be staying here with you as long as you want.”</p><p class="p1">“You don’t have to-”</p><p class="p1">“I know.” Robin put her hand on Max’s knee - rethought it immediately, but left her hand there. “I know, I want to. And I don’t have any plans for a while, since the mall’s shut down.”</p><p class="p1">Max grinned through her tears. “Good point.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m sticking around,” Robin said, and Max didn’t argue. “One more thing?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah?”</p><p class="p1">Robin meant what she said next with every bone in her body, though she tried not to look like it. “Everything’s going wrong around you. You’re not wrong. I promise you aren’t, no matter what.”</p><p class="p1">Max hugged her again, and Robin held her back. “Okay,” Max said in a small voice.</p><p class="p1">“You’re a great sister,” Robin said. “I’d know, I’m one too. My brother is a lot older, but I think the idea’s the same.”</p><p class="p1">“What idea?” Max asked, sounding much more comfortable.</p><p class="p1">“Well. You do everything you can. Try to keep up with him. But you’re never quite there. Never quite cool enough for him.”</p><p class="p1">“Never totally sure he likes you,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">That was rough. Robin didn’t relate to that specifically, but she nodded. “Right. But that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.”</p><p class="p1">“I hope so,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“I know so,” Robin promised.</p><p class="p1">She’d mocked Steve, at the start of the summer for all the kids that were his friends. But Robin was starting to see how that was a slippery slope.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Joyce had a plan, but no Hopper. Hopper had a rash of disappearances to explain to a town-full of freaked out people. He pulled rank on the doctor, and probably threatened him, and got okayed to leave. He left El in Joyce’s care. “Listen to me,” he said. “She’s vulnerable right now, her powers are burned out. Keep a close eye on her. Don’t let Mike do anything dumb.”</p><p class="p1">“Tough promise to make, when he already snuck in here against the doctor’s orders,” Joyce said, but Hopper didn’t think that was funny. “I’ll take care of her,” she said. “Go.”</p><p class="p1">Hopper nodded. “Okay. I’ll call. Are you going home?”</p><p class="p1">“If they’ll release us,” Joyce said. “Billy included. Don’t make that face at me, I’m sticking to my guns. I’m leaving with this kid or I’m not leaving at all.”</p><p class="p1">“He’s half dead, he wouldn’t leave for a few days anyway,” Hopper mumbled.</p><p class="p1">Joyce glared. “I’ll take that under consideration.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay. Stay safe. Call me if you need to.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay.”</p><p class="p1">They hugged goodbye, kind of awkwardly. Joyce wasn’t totally comfortable with it yet. But it was nice.</p><p class="p1">She had sent the kids home, in the end. Max convinced everyone to let her stay alone, including Will, thank God. The only one that stayed was one Joyce didn’t know too well. Robin. She had Max in her lap, so evidently Max knew her pretty well. Joyce sat cross-legged on the other bed, facing the kids.</p><p class="p1">“Do you think they’re okay?” she asked. “Your parents. It’s not normal for anyone to be unreachable for a full day.”</p><p class="p1">“Dunno,” Billy said in a low voice. He was awake again, for now. “They don’t tell us much.”</p><p class="p1">“A joke,” Robin observed. “Bold move.”</p><p class="p1">Joyce smiled. So she liked this girl. “Hopper’s going to stop by,” she said. “To make sure everything’s alright. I just don’t get it, though. Did they get blobbed?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” Billy said.</p><p class="p1">“He should have,” Max said crossly, from Robin’s lap. “Of everybody in Hawkins.”</p><p class="p1">“If I could blob one person,” Robin said, “it would be that Goddamn Russian doctor that was ready to take us apart piece by piece. He was…” Robin rubbed her eyes. “A real piece of work. Or Sandy Berkenstein. She beat me in the spelling bee last year.”</p><p class="p1">Max snorted, and got up. She paced a few steps to the door, looked out, and came back. Lucas had been thoughtful enough to bring her a change of clothes, so at least she wasn’t in the same ones as the mall. Joyce pretty desperately needed a new shirt and toothpaste, at least. Maybe deodorant. What she really needed was to understand this situation a little better.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Joyce said. “The pizza place is still open, a couple blocks away, they’re open till eleven.” She got up to dig through her purse. “And the general store is next to it. You girls want to go grab a pizza, and get me some deodorant and toothpaste?”</p><p class="p1">Robin looked at Max. Max looked at Billy. “Go,” Billy said. “I’m f… fine.” But he had to take a deep breath in the middle of that, so. How fine could he be, really. Joyce suspected he was more stubborn than fine, and considering that she was the mother of two exceptionally stubborn teenage boys, she felt qualified to make that judgement.</p><p class="p1">“It’ll just be a second,” Max said, and Billy sort of shrugged. So the girls went, and Joyce sat back down on the bed.</p><p class="p1">Billy looked over at her, pulled against his restraints to no avail. “So,” he said. “You’ve got me alone. What do you want?” </p><p class="p1">“Don’t sound so thrilled,” she said. “How’s the pain, does it hurt?”</p><p class="p1">He took another labored breath. “A little.”</p><p class="p1">“If they need to give you more drugs, I’ll tell them.”</p><p class="p1">“Don’t need it,” Billy said.</p><p class="p1">“Okay. How’s the stitches, did they say anything when they changed them?”</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t say anything for a second. “I’m not your kid,” he said. “Leave me alone. Stop pretending to… care.” He had to take a deep breath at the end there.</p><p class="p1">Joyce made a face at him. “You were doing better with short sentences,” she said. “Stick with those.” She hopped up and came over to him. “These things loosen up a bit,” she said, and fiddled with one.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t,” he said. “It’s still…”</p><p class="p1">“You can be as possessed as you want, these are approved up to three hundred and fifty pounds and an extra couple of inches won’t give you enough leverage to get out.”</p><p class="p1">“You sure?”</p><p class="p1">“Very sure,” she said. “I’ve been up against this guy before. And I’ve been in a bed like this before.” Successfully, she loosened him up a bit, so he could move a few more inches. It wasn't much, but it was something. “And you don’t look like you enjoy being tied down.”</p><p class="p1">“Does anybody,” he said in half a grunt.</p><p class="p1">“Good point.” Joyce moved to his feet, and loosened those too. The kid had a nasty scar on his ankle, the telltale pink lumpiness of a horrible injury healed a long time ago. She saw it, and he saw her see it, so Joyce didn’t say anything about it. She waited him out.</p><p class="p1">She was on his other arm when he spoke up. “Why’re you staying?” he asked. “Take Max and go.”</p><p class="p1">“As if,” she snorted. “Max isn’t going anywhere, first of all, and second, my impression of your parents doesn’t leave me particularly excited to leave you in their hands. And on top of that, do you plan on telling them about the Mind Flayer and the Upside Down?”</p><p class="p1">“What?”</p><p class="p1">“The Mind Flayer, the thing that’s possessing you. And the Upside Down is the… mirror world thingy. It’s like this world but dark and empty. Monsters only. You want to tell them about all that?”</p><p class="p1">Billy looked resolutely at a wall and did not answer, so that was a no. Joyce waited for him to say something. “So you’re my only option?” he finally said.</p><p class="p1">“Afraid so. But, because I’ve been accused of… forcing things,” Joyce admitted through gritted teeth, “I wanted to give you the option to say no. Without Max telling you how she feels, or any of our kids around either. You’re the one in the bed, you need an advocate. You should get to say if it’s me.”</p><p class="p1">“Can I think about it?” he said dryly.</p><p class="p1">“Take your time.” Joyce did not mean that, but she thought it was nice to say. And Billy relaxed, too, when she said that. That was a good sign.</p><p class="p1">Joyce sat back on the other bed. “Is there anything you want to know about me?” she said.</p><p class="p1">“You a nurse?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” she said. “But Jonathan went through a fighting stage, and Will got more than his fair share of bullying already. I know my way around this hospital. And around the cops, when it gets to that. Hopper’s going to do everything he can, of course, but it wouldn’t hurt to have somebody else on your side once the police start to investigate what you did. Or what you were made to do,” Joyce added.</p><p class="p1">Billy shook his head. “No. What I did,” he said. “End of the day, I did it.”</p><p class="p1">Joyce pressed her lips together tightly, to keep herself from saying something that sounded like pity. “Okay,” she said. “Still.”</p><p class="p1">“I could’ve killed your kid,” Billy said. “You want to help me after that?”</p><p class="p1">“If you look at it your way, my kid almost killed me last year,” Joyce said. “He did kill several other people.” Bob. “So. I understand the situation’s sort of different.”</p><p class="p1">“Not better,” Billy said.</p><p class="p1">Joyce gave him a look. “I didn’t say better.” And, because they were now building a kind of rapport, she asked again, “Really, how bad does it hurt? Can I get a nurse in here to up your meds?”</p><p class="p1">“Knock yourself out,” he said, which wasn’t a yes, but Joyce went ahead anyways.</p><p class="p1">She brought the nurses in and increased his morphine drip, and Billy’s breathing got a little easier.“Thank you,” Joyce said to the nurse. “I’ll call you again if we need you.”</p><p class="p1">Billy was taking deep breaths, even and relaxed. By the time the girls got back, he was out again. That was probably for the best.</p><p class="p1">“Is he okay, did anything happen?” Max asked, climbing back onto the foot of his bed.</p><p class="p1">“No worse,” Joyce said. “We upped his pain medication a bit, that helped him get back to sleep. Thank you,” she added as Robin handed her the deodorant. She put it on sitting here, reaching under her shirt.</p><p class="p1">Robin plopped back down in her chair and started eating a piece of pizza. “Is he any more charming when he’s less in pain?” she asked dryly.</p><p class="p1">“Slightly,” Joyce said. “Where are your parents, for that matter?”</p><p class="p1">“At home,” Robin said. “I’ve still got both of them.”</p><p class="p1">“You’ve been here all day,” Joyce pointed out in what she thought was a casual tone.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Robin said. “I called them at nine when I knew I wouldn’t be back for a while, and I’ll call again tomorrow if I’m not back.” She looked at Joyce. “They believe in trust.”</p><p class="p1">Joyce held up her hands. “I didn’t say anything!” She got a piece of pizza herself.</p><p class="p1">“I know,” Robin said with a smirk. “But you’re not the first person asking.” She took a large bite, chewed. “They’re good,” she said. “Probably too good. But I don’t need to be adopted.”</p><p class="p1">So the girl had Joyce’s number, basically right from the get go. Joyce couldn’t do much but sigh. “Well,” she said. “Good.”</p><p class="p1">The phone rang. Joyce hadn’t noticed the phone previously, but it was sitting right there on the table between the beds. Robin was closest, so she picked it up. “Billy’s hospital room, how can I help you?”</p><p class="p1">Max giggled. Robin waggled her eyebrows at her, listening. “Yep, here she is,” she said, and handed Joyce the receiver. “He sounds mad,” she whispered.</p><p class="p1">“Hi Hop,” Joyce said.</p><p class="p1">“I found the parents,” he said. “Their phone was broken. So that was it. They’re on their way.”</p><p class="p1">“Great. Okay. Well, I’ll leave when they’re here. How’s it going?” she added.</p><p class="p1">“It’s… tough,” he sighed. “I might head back to your place for a shower, since mine’s in shreds.”</p><p class="p1">“Go for it,” she said. “If I’m not back in the morning, I’ll call you.”</p><p class="p1">“Alright.” Hop wasn’t thrilled with that, but he agreed. “Bye,” he added.</p><p class="p1">“Bye.” Joyce handed the phone back to Robin, who hung it back up. “Thanks, sweetie.”</p><p class="p1">“Yup,” Robin said, mouth full. “What’s the news?”</p><p class="p1">Joyce looked at Max, who was chewing and looking at her, and then at Billy, who was still asleep. “Your parents are alright,” she told Max. “They should be coming soon.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Max said. “So you’re leaving?”</p><p class="p1">“No, not just yet,” Joyce said. “I think we’ll be hanging around.” She couldn’t outright say she didn’t trust Max’s parents to do the right thing, but she thought that might be clear anyways. Based on the look Robin gave her, at least.</p><p class="p1">Turned out, Hopper had slightly misrepresented the situation. Only one parent came, their father. And that was far from “it”.</p><p class="p1">Neil Hargrove came storming in with some poor harangued nurse he’d managed to find, and demanded answers from her. Billy woke up at the sound of him, and pulled one arm like maybe he could get it free this time. Joyce watched, Robin next to her. Max stood next to her brother, tense with every bone in her body. So no, Joyce wasn’t leaving. She just wasn’t going to provoke this man without a solid plan. </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Steve was exhausted. He woke up in a dark room that smelled kind of gross, like dried blood. His mouth tasted pretty bad. He'd been asleep for a while, if he had to guess. When he managed to get onto his back, he saw someone was in the other bed in the room. "Hey," he said sleepily.</p><p class="p1">"What?" the other guy said. It was Jonathan, Steve determined after a second.</p><p class="p1">"Hi," Steve said, and got himself up on his feet. He had to pee like crazy, so he did that first. "Where is everybody?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">"Down the hall. Shh."</p><p class="p1">Rude. Steve headed down the hall though, and tried not to read too much into the empty silence all around.</p><p class="p1">He peered in doors as he passed, and eventually saw Joyce, asleep in a chair, so he went into that room. Robin was asleep in another chair, Max in a bed, and Billy with all his tubes and gauze wrappings was tied up in his bed too. They were okay. Steve was lingering there in the door, trying to decide if he should wake anyone up, when Robin woke up on her own.</p><p class="p1">"Steve," she said in relief.</p><p class="p1">"I'm alive," he said. "Yeah."</p><p class="p1">"You've been asleep for a day, basically," she said.</p><p class="p1">"I'm still tired," he said. "Go figure."</p><p class="p1">"They really got you," she said. "You've got stitches over your eye."</p><p class="p1">"Great," Steve said, and poked the area gingerly. There was gauze in the way. "How is everybody? Where are they?"</p><p class="p1">"They went home. Or to somebody's home. The last thing we needed here was like a dozen children running around making out, so." Robin stood up and came over to him. "How's that beautiful face?" she asked sarcastically.</p><p class="p1">Steve frowned. "Alright," he said. "Enough. I'm fine. I'm gonna go home and sleep for like, forever. You need a ride?"</p><p class="p1">Robin shook her head. "I'm here for Max," she said. "So I'm not going anywhere."</p><p class="p1">"Since when do you know Max?" Steve asked with increasing confusion.</p><p class="p1">"Since I held her while she cried because she thought her brother was dead," Robin answered in a whisper. "Okay? And then she told me about how helpless she felt and how alone and so..."</p><p class="p1">"So you've adopted a kid of your own," Steve realized. "After all that shit you gave me about it."</p><p class="p1">Robin did not disagree, though she did look less than thrilled. "Well," she said. "Whatever. Somebody had to step up, since your ass was unconscious."</p><p class="p1">Steve pretended to agree, nodded, and then his stomach growled so loudly they both heard it. "I haven't eaten for a day," he said.</p><p class="p1">"We have cold pizza," Robin said. "If that's acceptable to you, King Steve.”</p><p class="p1">Steve sat on the floor, his back against the wall, and tore through three pieces. Robin sat next to him, just awkwardly sort of watching him eat. "Your internal clock is going to be totally screwed for a while," she said.</p><p class="p1">"Small price to pay for being, y'know. Alive." Steve finished the third piece. "Post-torture. I feel like I should put that on my resume."</p><p class="p1">"I've heard that's very important to employers," Robin agreed solemnly.</p><p class="p1">Steve looked over at her, and sighed. "I'm glad you're okay," he said.</p><p class="p1">"You too," she said back, looking at him with a bit of a smile.</p><p class="p1">"I know you aren't like, interested in me," Steve began, and Robin began to look a little panicked. "But I think it's super brave of you-"</p><p class="p1">"Stop," she cut him off.</p><p class="p1">"Stop?"</p><p class="p1">"Yes." She gestured at the other people in the room.</p><p class="p1">"They're asleep."</p><p class="p1">"They're pretending to be asleep," she said. "Possibly."</p><p class="p1">Steve rolled his eyes, which hurt. "Ow. Fine."</p><p class="p1">"I know what you mean, though," Robin said after a second. "And, thanks."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah, I mean. You're awesome, dude."</p><p class="p1">"Dude," she echoed, nudging him.</p><p class="p1">"How's El's leg?" he asked when it occurred to him.</p><p class="p1">"It's okay, they let her go," Robin said. And then, after a second, she said "The girl with telepathic powers that you didn't tell me about is safely back at home."</p><p class="p1">Steve sighed deeply. "What did you want me to do?" he said. "There's no good way to get into that story."</p><p class="p1">"I mean now."</p><p class="p1">"Oh. Well I'll tell you whatever you want now."</p><p class="p1">Robin was quiet for a second. She picked at a bandaid on her knee. "So Nancy," she finally said.</p><p class="p1">"Oh my god, right? She's badass. She should, like. Go become a sniper, or something. An assassin. She's got nerves of steel." Steve itched his ear, and discovered a scab on the edge. He thought he fell on it, maybe. "Can't believe Jonathan was ready to fucking... cut open El's leg like that. That was out of character. To say the least."</p><p class="p1">"That was insane," Robin agreed. "I'm still processing most of that."</p><p class="p1">"I don't blame you."</p><p class="p1">"What," Robin began, and paused. "Did... how did Billy get involved in this?"</p><p class="p1">"No fucking clue," Steve said. "El probably knows, but. We were sort of split up for most of this. Like last year, though, Will got possessed and like. The Mind Flayer was using him to spy on us. So if I had to put money on it, it was something in that neighborhood."</p><p class="p1">"Mind Flayer," she repeated. "And why is it called that?"</p><p class="p1">"Some... Dungeons and Dragons bullshit. I don't know. Mike loves to name things," Steve said, exhaustion setting in, and he itched his not-black eye. "Robin, I promise I'll explain everything. I'll draw diagrams, if you want, but my head is totally... just, scrambled."</p><p class="p1">Robin patted his knee, which was miraculously like ninety percent fine. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm not going anywhere."</p><p class="p1">"You can't," he said. "You've made friends with these little weirdos. They've got their hooks in you now."</p><p class="p1">"No hook metaphors until the torture is more than a day behind us," Robin suggested.</p><p class="p1">"Good call."</p><p class="p1">Steve almost fell asleep there on the floor, head back against the wall. Then Robin spoke up again. "What's the, like. Deal. Do you know? With Max's dad," she asked quietly.</p><p class="p1">"Step dad," Steve corrected her. "And, no. She's... she doesn't talk about it.”</p><p class="p1">“But it’s not good, right?”</p><p class="p1">Steve didn’t technically know, but he and Robin were past technicalities. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so.”</p><p class="p1">“His dad came in here,” Robin said. “Earlier tonight, and he was… loud.”</p><p class="p1">“Loud,” Steve repeated.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah. He scared the shit out of Max, too.”</p><p class="p1">“What, like he threatened her?”</p><p class="p1">“Not her. He told Billy if he gets arrested he’s kicked out.”</p><p class="p1">Steve frowned. “Yikes.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, Ms. Byers did not love that. Apparently he’s gonna be stuck in bed for months, so. That’s…”</p><p class="p1">“Jonathan’s not great either,” Steve mumbled. His eyes were closing on their own. “Fucked up, dude.”</p><p class="p1">“Don’t sleep on the floor,” Robin said. “C’mon. We’re going back to your room. You’re gonna sleep in a bed.”</p><p class="p1">She was very convincing. Also, surprisingly strong. Steve was in his bed before he knew it, and asleep before he could figure out if it was appropriate to invite her to share.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The gang tries to move on from the mall, Max doesn't tell the whole truth, and Robin finally gets some things off her chest. It's all about found family in here.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Billy got arrested the moment they released him from the hospital. Hopper said it was for his own good, but Max didn't see how that was possible. She insisted on riding with him to the station, and Hop gave in.</p><p class="p1">"You're being dumb," Billy told her in the back of the police car. "Go home."</p><p class="p1">"I'll go home when you do," she countered.</p><p class="p1">"You'll go now if you know what's good for you."</p><p class="p1">"I don't care about what's good for me," Max declared. "I'm doing what's good for you." And Billy didn't know what to say after that, just like she suspected, so she rode with him after all.</p><p class="p1">Some other officers handled Billy, taking him into some other room. Hopper kept Max with him, and he sat her down in his office. He gave her a donut on a napkin, and had one himself and flopped heavily into his chair on the other side of his desk. "He's not in trouble," he said, and took a big bite.</p><p class="p1">"People don't get arrested if they're not in trouble," Max said. She meant to ignore the donut, as a sign of protest, but it looked really good. So she had a bite too.</p><p class="p1">"People do get arrested if the police chief knows it's safer for them than whatever's at home," Hopper said through his mouthful. "Joyce filled me in, kid. I know what your dad told him."</p><p class="p1">"Step dad," Max muttered.</p><p class="p1">"Whatever. Max. Listen. If your step dad follows through and kicks him out."</p><p class="p1">"He will," Max said. "Like, right away."</p><p class="p1">Hopper finished the rest of his donut in two bites and then scooted closer to his desk and leaned on it, towards her. "Then what I'm saying is even more relevant, isn't it," he said crossly. Max thought it would be best to be quiet. "Does he have somewhere he could stay? A friend or relative."</p><p class="p1">"No," Max said. "He doesn't make friends like that."</p><p class="p1">"I bet he doesn't."</p><p class="p1">That struck Max as being rude, but again she thought she should wait and see how this turned out. "Okay," Hopper said after a second. "So he's homeless. We've got a homeless teenager in Hawkins." He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Okay," he says. "Hold on." And he picked up the phone.</p><p class="p1">Max finished her donut and listened to his end of the phone call. "Hey, Joyce," Hopper said, sounding very tired. "You were right." After a brief pause where he looked at nothing in particular, he said, "Yeah. Well that's what I wanted to ask her." A brief pause. "I'm going to, as soon as you hang up. I just wanted to tell you you're right. Okay? So. Yeah. Bye." He sighed then, hung up that phone, and looked at Max.</p><p class="p1">"What was Mrs. Byers right about?" Max asked.</p><p class="p1">"Most things," Hopper said, massaging his temples.</p><p class="p1">Max nodded like that made sense and crumpled up her napkin into a ball. "If you need Billy to do something," she said, "I can probably get him to do it. He listens to me. Sometimes. But better than he listens to anybody else."</p><p class="p1">Hopped huffed out a gruff laugh. "Okay. Sure. Get him to accept the Wheelers’ hospitality and stay with them."</p><p class="p1">It sounded like a joke. But when Max gave Hopper a long, unamused look, he didn't crack. "Would that really happen?" she said.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah. Karen and Joyce worked it out. He can share with Mike. Mike has a bunk bed, and he can sacrifice a few sleepovers in the short term while we figure out what to do.” Hopper looked very tired. He scrubbed his hands in his eyes and then looked at her. “So. I need you to pitch this to your brother, and get him to agree to it. Because somehow I feel like this isn’t an idea he’d be thrilled about.”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t think arresting him made him in a better mood,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“My apologies. I suppose you’ll have to work around it,” Hopper said, with very intense sarcasm. “Just do it, kid. Okay?”</p><p class="p1">Max nodded. “I need a donut,” she said. “Would somebody help him move things?”</p><p class="p1">“You,” Hopper said, and then added, “Yes.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay. I’ll also need to let him out. He doesn’t like being locked in.”</p><p class="p1">That was more of an argument, but Max got her way in the end.</p><p class="p1">Billy did not look thrilled to see her. “I have a donut,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“What kind?”</p><p class="p1">“Maple.”</p><p class="p1">Slowly, he got up off the bench and limped over to the bars. “Thanks,” he said gruffly, and had a big bite.</p><p class="p1">“So I talked to Hop,” she said. “And I sort of have a plan.”</p><p class="p1">“For what,” he said flatly. “Dad’s not changing his mind.”</p><p class="p1">“I know,” she said. “So we have another solution. Mike’s got an extra bed in his room, you can stay with the Wheelers.”</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t react. He finished the donut in three bites, and then went to sit back down. “Not doing that,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Why not?”</p><p class="p1">“Does Mrs. Wheeler know you’re making this offer?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, she said it was fine.”</p><p class="p1">Billy grimaced as he sat down, and groaned. “No,” he said. “It’s not fine.”</p><p class="p1">“Well it’s your only option,” Max snapped. “You need a real bed, and a real, like… real parents. To help you.”</p><p class="p1">“Well, I don’t have that,” he snapped back. “And I’m not doing that, make another fucking plan.”</p><p class="p1">One of the first things about Billy that Max had ever learned was how to ignore him when he got like this. She sighed, and got the key Hopper gave her out of her pocket. “There isn’t another plan,” she said, turning the key loudly. Billy just watched. He didn’t move when she sat down next to him, either. “This is the plan. And it’s a good one.”</p><p class="p1">“You don’t know all the facts,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“It’s not my fault you’re keeping secrets.” Max looked over at him. He still wasn’t good. His black eyes were yellow, but he still got tired fast and couldn’t walk normal. He couldn’t just sleep in his car or whatever dumb thing he wanted to think he could do.</p><p class="p1">Billy glanced over at her. “If I tell you, you can’t tell any of your little dumb shit friends,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“I won’t,” she said, though in her mind she reserved the right to tell El. She told El everything.</p><p class="p1">“I’m not doing it,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“You have to,” she insisted. “I’ll come over every day and help you, and Mike will be cool and Nancy is CPR certified.”</p><p class="p1">Billy laughed a little bit. “That doesn’t make it a good idea.”</p><p class="p1">Max decided to pull out her secret winning move. She bit her lip, and said, “Please.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“This is bullshit!” Mike was far from okay with this. This was bullshit, and it was not fair and he was mostly upset that he’d managed to miss what apparently everyone else knew before he did.</p><p class="p1">“It is not bullshit,” El said. “It’s a crock.” And she and Max grinned.</p><p class="p1">“It isn’t a joke, either,” Mike said crossly. “Why do I have to be the one to share with him? Why couldn’t he sleep down here?”</p><p class="p1">“He needs a bed, not a pullout couch,” Max said. “He’s hurt.”</p><p class="p1">“He can be hurt somewhere else.” Mike wanted to kick something, but everything here would be painful or break. “This blows.”</p><p class="p1">Max sighed. “I’ll be over all the time,” she said. “To help take care of him. And he’s not that bad when it’s just him. Please just try it, <em>please?</em>”</p><p class="p1">“Fine,” Mike said, mostly because El really wanted him to say that.</p><p class="p1">But it wasn’t fine. It was still bullshit. Mike avoided the entire moving process entirely as a gesture of protest, and that felt a little better. But then he had to still sleep there, with Max’s asshole older brother in the bunk bed and Mike couldn’t even have the bottom bunk. It wasn’t Mike’s room anymore, it was Mike and Billy’s, and that sucked.</p><p class="p1">“I share,” El said with no sympathy when he brought it up.</p><p class="p1">“With <em>Will</em>,” Mike pointed out. But El didn’t seem to care there was a difference, so Mike thought about breaking up with her but ultimately didn’t have the confidence to do so before she and everybody else left for the night.</p><p class="p1">Dinner was pizza around the kitchen island. Dad took his to his recliner, as usual. Holly sat in a chair. Mike sulked in a corner of the counter, eating a piece of pizza defiantly without a plate and daring Mom to say something about it. Infuriatingly, she didn’t.</p><p class="p1">Nancy was pretending to be friendly, so she ate at the island with Max and Billy and Mom. Mike thought that also sucked. “So,” Mom said halfway through her second piece of pizza. “I spoke to your doctor today, Billy, and he said you might have trouble with the stairs.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m fine,” Billy said shortly.</p><p class="p1">“Well, if you need any help, Ted or I can absolutely-”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t need help,” Billy cut her off, but then the look he gave her wasn’t mad.</p><p class="p1">Max was tense. “But if you do,” she said, and Billy didn’t come back at her. “That’s all she’s saying.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Billy said tensely. “Thank you.”</p><p class="p1">“Of course,” Mom said. “And if there’s anything else you need, please just ask.”</p><p class="p1">Billy made a weird sort of face that Mike only took note of to use as blackmail later. And still, no one was paying attention to Mike, So Mike stomped the two steps to the island, and snatched another piece of pizza. “Use a plate, darling,” Mom said.</p><p class="p1">“Bitch,” Mike mumbled.</p><p class="p1">“Hey!” Nancy snapped, but the confusing sort of thing was that Billy said the exact same thing at the exact same time, in the exact same tone. Max looked at her brother in surprise.</p><p class="p1">Mom looked very flustered. “Go to your room, Michael,” she said. “Leave the pizza.”</p><p class="p1">“It’s not even my room anymore!” Mike snapped at her. “This is bullshit.”</p><p class="p1">“Language!” Nancy said.</p><p class="p1">“Nancy, I’ve got it,” Mom said, and looked Mike in the eyes. “Listen,” she said. “I know you’re not happy. But you need to grow up. This isn’t up for discussion. I need an attitude adjustment from you by tomorrow, or I’ll have to reconsider your privileges.”</p><p class="p1">Mike’s scowl got more intense. “Like what?”</p><p class="p1">“You’ll find out.”</p><p class="p1">That was unacceptable. Mike made as much of a racket as he could going upstairs, and slammed the door as hard as he thought he could away with and then opened it a crack to listen to the reaction.</p><p class="p1">“He’ll recover,” Mom said.</p><p class="p1">Somebody said something he couldn’t quite hear, and there was some kind of reaction to it, and Mike was beginning to think he should’ve stayed downstairs because he was missing this.</p><p class="p1">Instead, he committed very strongly to sulking. He didn’t even go brush his teeth, and the most infuriating feeling was that no one seemed to notice.</p><p class="p1">Mike was in the top bunk when Billy finally came in. He was mostly asleep, but he woke up when Billy came in and then Mike just lay there, angry and perfectly still. He was prepared to be there for hours, stewing in his irritation, but only like ten minutes later Mom knocked a couple times and cracked the door.</p><p class="p1">"Billy," she whispered, sounding weird. "I brought you some Tylenol."</p><p class="p1">"Thanks, Karen," Billy whispered back.</p><p class="p1">"Mrs. Wheeler, please," she said. "I meant what I said."</p><p class="p1">Billy didn't say anything. Mike kept his eyes shut, in case Mom looked, and heard someone moving. Then Mom shut the door again, and Mike sat bolt upright in bed. "Do NOT," he said in a furious whisper, and leaned over the side of the bed, "hit on my MOM."</p><p class="p1">"Thought you were asleep," Billy said, and took the pills with a glass of water Mom must've brought him.</p><p class="p1">Mike was furious, and the rush of blood to his head made him dizzy so he sat back upright. "There have to be rules," he said. "This is a modern society. And the first rule is that you can't hit on my fucking mom!"</p><p class="p1">"What's the second rule?" Billy asked dryly.</p><p class="p1">"No snoring," Mike said, because he couldn't think of anything better. And Billy didn't have a snarky response to that, so Mike fell asleep seething with fury.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Lucas was having trouble finding Max. She wasn't at home or at the arcade, and now he was at Mike's, trying to find her, but Mike was in the basement and wouldn't come out. So Lucas was waiting by the front door, really annoyed, when Billy sort of wandered into view. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen, and leaned on the door frame. "Can I help you?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">"No," Lucas said. "I'm good."</p><p class="p1">"You don't happen to be here for my sister, do you," Billy said next.</p><p class="p1">He was trying to be intimidating. Lucas was thoroughly unimpressed. "Well, I'm not here for you," Lucas said. "So. Thanks." He fidgeted with the strap of the bag over his shoulder. Mike needed to get off his ass and get up here.</p><p class="p1">"Is that attitude?" Billy began, taking a step forward.</p><p class="p1">Lucas had had enough. "Yeah," he said. "It is. We had to stop you from killing all of us, Max included. I think we're entitled to more than a little attitude.”</p><p class="p1">“Hey kid. Don't fuck with me," Billy said menacingly.</p><p class="p1">Lucas crossed his arms. "Or what," he countered. "You'll turn me into goo too?"</p><p class="p1">Mike finally made it upstairs then, and pushed past Billy crossly. "Hey," he said to Lucas. "Sorry."</p><p class="p1">"It's fine," Lucas lied. "How's El?"</p><p class="p1">"She's good," Mike said, his stormy expression fading. "She's still... her ankle still hurts, but she's fine."</p><p class="p1">That was interesting. Lucas wondered if El had her powers back yet, but he agreed with Mike that Billy didn't need to know that, and Billy seemed to be staying and listening. "Cool. Is Max here?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">Mike glared at him. "Is that the only reason you're here?"</p><p class="p1">"Oh my God, Mike," Lucas said. "Are you really gonna be a baby about this?"</p><p class="p1">"I don't know. Do you even care about anything else?” Mike demanded indignantly.</p><p class="p1">Lucas couldn’t roll his eyes hard enough. “Of course I care. Y’know, I can’t believe after everything that happened you still haven’t grown up at all. I’ll find Max myself.”</p><p class="p1">“She’s in Nancy’s room,” Billy volunteered.</p><p class="p1">Frowning, Lucas looked at him. Billy’s face didn’t give a lot of insight to how he was feeling. “Thanks,” Lucas said anyways. </p><p class="p1">“Traitor,” Mike grumbled, and retreated back into the basement.</p><p class="p1">On his way up the steps, Lucas tried to arrive at some sort of conclusion about what just happened. He ended up with nothing. So he knocked on Nancy’s door.</p><p class="p1">Nancy and Max were in there, and Nancy was braiding Max’s hair. “Hey,” Max said. She sounded happy to see him. That was a good sign. They’d been awkward since everything at the mall. Not bad, but.</p><p class="p1">“Hi,” Lucas said. “Are you doing anything after this?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” Max shook her head.</p><p class="p1">“Stay still,” Nancy said. “You can come in,” she added to Lucas.</p><p class="p1">He did, and sat on the floor in front of them. Max was still the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Her hair was so bright, and looked so good in a braid. “Hey,” he said again.</p><p class="p1">Max smiled. “You said that already,” she said. “What’s going on?”</p><p class="p1">“If you’re free, I want to hang out. I borrowed some of Erica’s comics, she’s got most of the Wonder Woman ones you don’t have. She said she’d skin us if we spill anything on them, so. We’ll have to be careful,” he said with a smile.</p><p class="p1">“Awesome,” Max agreed. “I wanted to talk to you, anyways. Now that we’ve been here a while, and everything.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Lucas said. That made him a bit nervous. “Is something wrong?”</p><p class="p1">“Nope,” Max said. “Not at all.”</p><p class="p1">“There,” Nancy said. “Done. I’ve got to get going. You can stay in here if you keep the door open.”</p><p class="p1">“Thanks,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">Nancy gave them a knowing look as she got up, and left. So then they were alone in her room, which was primarily pink. It was kind of uncomfortable. But not bad.</p><p class="p1">“She’s awesome,” Max said.</p><p class="p1">Lucas nodded. “I’m just more used to her kicking us out of whatever room she’s in. It’s weird to be sort of friends.” </p><p class="p1">“I bet.” Max felt the back of her head, the braid, and then put her hand down, apparently satisfied. She looked at him then, and Lucas was sort of scared again. She looked serious.</p><p class="p1">“If I did something, I’m sorry in advance,” he said as an ice breaker.</p><p class="p1">She didn’t really smile. “You haven’t done anything,” she said. “You’ve been awesome. I’m just… I’ve realized some things.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay…”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t want to break up,” she said. “I really like you. And I think we work together really well. But like. I haven’t been a good girlfriend, I think.”</p><p class="p1">“What do you mean?” Lucas frowned. “Of course you have been.”</p><p class="p1">“No, I haven’t. I’ve been totally self-centered and not honest about how I am and that’s not cool,” Max said sincerely. “So if we’re gonna stay together, I want to change that. To be fair.”</p><p class="p1">Lucas just nodded, because he could tell that was important to her. “Okay,” he said. “Can I do something?”</p><p class="p1">Max shook her head. “Just listen.”</p><p class="p1">He could do that.</p><p class="p1">“A lot of it’s about Billy,” she said. “And our parents. Which I’m not good at talking about. So. I’m probably gonna say stuff wrong.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Lucas said. “That’s fine. I do that all the time.”</p><p class="p1">“I know,” Max said with half a smile. “But maybe we should start trying to be a little more understanding.”</p><p class="p1">Something in Lucas’ heart unclenched, because that was exactly what he’d been meaning to say for a few days. “Totally,” he said. “I’ll start, right now.”</p><p class="p1">This, Lucas thought, was what an actual relationship was like. He was actually kind of excited.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Nancy found Robin very intriguing. She wasn't like anyone else Nancy had ever known, and the last time Nancy thought that was when she was getting to know Steve, and then Jonathan, so she thought she could trust her gut. Robin was currently picking at a scab on her knee and talking at length about the horns' inability to modulate their volume. She’d walked in the door angry about it, and sustained the same level of energy for close to twenty minutes now. Usually Steve was her audience for these things, but Steve was with his parents for the weekend. They saw how injured he was and suddenly decided they wanted him around, which Nancy found infuriating. But she wasn't dwelling on it.</p><p class="p1">Billy was also down here, somewhere. Not in the living room with them, but Nancy thought she heard him skulking about in the kitchen. He was doing a lot of that recently, lurking just out of sight. It was better than being around him, but not very much. But Nancy wasn't paying attention to Billy, she was listening - mostly - to Robin.</p><p class="p1">"I just can't believe they can't act like adults and realize the effect they have on other people when they refuse to respect a pianissimo," Robin finished. "Y'know?"</p><p class="p1">"Do I ever," Nancy said, and looked down at her notebook. She was attempting to finish a college essay, and mostly failing. "Band sounds like a headache."</p><p class="p1">"It totally is. Or is that I sign I'm giving you one?" Robin asked.</p><p class="p1">She was very insightful. Nancy put on her best indignant face and opened her mouth.</p><p class="p1">"I'll shut up about band," Robin said over her. "How's the weirdo?"</p><p class="p1">"I've <em>asked</em> you not to call Jonathan that," Nancy said unhappily. "But he's fine. Well, he's not really fine. He's in bed and his ribs are still basically... collaged together. Will's very concerned."</p><p class="p1">Robin nodded. "I bet. My brother broke his ankle playing basketball once, and I did not leave his side the whole time he was off it. My parents got actually annoyed with me, for once."</p><p class="p1">Right. Robin had good parents. Nancy was not jealous of that, studiously so. "Mike's been more like that too, recently," she said.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah. Life-changing mall adventures can do that," Robin said, a little teasing. "Make someone appreciate their badass gun-toting big sister." They heard the floor in the kitchen creak - Billy lurking - and shared a look. Robin was less accommodating of Billy, a little more openly hostile, so her look was more of a glare. "Where are the kids, anyways?" Robin asked, and lay down on her back on the floor. She liked to lie on the floor. Nancy remained on the couch.</p><p class="p1">"Max and Lucas are in my room," Nancy said. "Alone."</p><p class="p1">Robin raised her eyebrows. "Scandal."</p><p class="p1">"I trust them," Nancy said. "Max is... well, you know how she is."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Robin said. "She said she needed to talk to him. Do you think they're breaking up?"</p><p class="p1">"I hope not. Lucas is good for her," Nancy said.</p><p class="p1">Robin made a face. "He's fine," she said. "But she's too young to stay with someone who's not making her happy."</p><p class="p1">That struck Nancy as odd. "Well," she said. "But people fight."</p><p class="p1">"Sure," Robin said. "And sometimes cuz they're not right for each other."</p><p class="p1">"Well," Nancy said after a moment. "They're too young to know either way. And at any rate, I'm glad they're talking about it and not yelling and sulking everywhere."</p><p class="p1">"Ah." Robin nodded wisely. "Like Mike."</p><p class="p1">Nancy laughed on accident, and Robin smiled. Her smile was pretty rare, and Nancy liked when she got to see it. "Well," Nancy said.</p><p class="p1">"Say no more," Robin said magnanimously. "Where is that little sucker, anyways?"</p><p class="p1">"Downstairs, I think. Will and Dustin came over too, so they're..." Nancy shrugged, and Robin nodded.</p><p class="p1">"Nerd shit. Great. Is your essay done?"</p><p class="p1">Nancy looked back down at the paper. She'd written a grand total of about eight words. "Done enough," she said. "I'll work on it later. Let's do dinner." That was the reason Robin was here, after all. Tonight was a movie night, and Mom and Dad were out for the evening. It was a large task, so Robin had come over to help Nancy spearhead dinner for the kids. Nancy was grateful for the help, even if she wasn't particularly sure why Robin volunteered.</p><p class="p1">Billy did not exit the kitchen quick enough to avoid them, probably due to his injuries. Instead, he struck a casual pose by the fridge. Nancy planned on politely ignoring him, as she had been doing. But Robin was not capable of that. "What's up," she said, and pulled the door open.</p><p class="p1">"Nothing," Billy said with a bit of a smile. He always had one on. Nancy did not find it convincing.</p><p class="p1">"You plan on helping with dinner or just watching?" Robin said.</p><p class="p1">Nancy made a face, torn between apologizing for Robin's behavior and wanting to high-five her. "So we'll need to preheat the oven," she said over Billy's answer, her voice sounding strained even to herself.</p><p class="p1">"425, I'm on it," Robin said, and poured herself a glass of iced tea. "And boil water for the hot dogs, right?"</p><p class="p1">"Yes. I'll handle the coleslaw." Nancy pulled out the big pot and started filling it at the sink.</p><p class="p1">Robin seemed physically incapable of leaving Billy alone. Nancy turned back from the sink to find Robin glaring menacingly at him, sipping her iced tea. Billy was just looking back at her too, and things felt tense. “Robin,” Nancy said sharply.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, yeah.” Robin set the iced tea down loudly and opened the freezer. “Do you think they’d eat carrots if we put them out?”</p><p class="p1">“I hope so. And the apples need to be sliced.”</p><p class="p1">“Got it, boss.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy blushed every time Robin called her boss, but she also liked it. She shut the water off and moved the big pot over to the stove, and when she turned back to say one more thing to Robin she instead ended up looking at Billy. He was still standing there, leaning against the fridge - and he leaned a lot, probably because of the multiple broken ribs - but he was just looking down. He wasn’t smiling, probably because he didn’t think he was being watched. He looked different.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Robin said. She’d caught Nancy staring, but when Nancy guiltily redirected her attention all Robin said was, “Where are cutting boards?”</p><p class="p1">“To the left of the sink, on the bottom.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy went over to the fridge to get the cabbage, trying very hard to avoid Billy’s gaze, so she was more than a bit surprised when he spoke to her. “What can I do?”</p><p class="p1">“Excuse me?” Nancy said after a second.</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t seem inclined to repeat himself. He sort of shrugged, and said, “To help.”</p><p class="p1">“Make four boxes of Kraft mac and cheese,” Robin said. “Since two of the dorks have decided they’re vegetarians.”</p><p class="p1">Billy looked to Nancy for confirmation. She nodded, more than a bit shell-shocked, and he started moving. He knew where the other big pot was, and the boxes of mac and cheese in the pantry, and he just did it. Honestly, most of the time Nancy forgot he was older than her, and an older brother, and probably had to take care of things like dinner before, but this reminded her. And she started taking him a little bit more seriously.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Will was kind of preoccupied by a thought: he didn’t mean to make friends with El and Max initially, but they’d ended up being his best friends. In the aftermath of the Starcourt Mall, Will intended to be mad at the girls still, but El had saved everyone’s life again and Max was a little withdrawn, and he had never been good at holding grudges. Plus, the guys were being loud. So he asked Max about the comics he’d seen sticking out of her book bag, and told El her hair looked nice like this, and pretty soon he forgot about feeling left out of the boys fart jokes or whatever they were doing.</p><p class="p1">He couldn’t imagine not having the girls to rely on. El was basically his sister, even though she was also Mike’s girlfriend, secondarily. He and Max both had older brothers who probably should still be in the hospital but couldn’t stay still. He’d never meant it, he decided, when he said the girls ruined things. The girls were the only ones who wanted to talk about the real stuff, these days.</p><p class="p1">Also, the girls were trying to go vegetarian, which Will thought was a fascinating idea, so the three of them ate mac and cheese and carrots and apples and coleslaw and skipped the pepperoni pizza and hot dogs, and Max told them both about her and Lucas’ new understanding.</p><p class="p1">Will was listening to the story winding down when he noticed Billy. Billy had made a point of making himself scarce whenever everyone else was around, except today when he sort of hung around in the background. And now he was getting food, eating with all of them. Weird. The back of Will’s neck prickled, but he couldn’t tell if it was him or the Upside Down.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” El waved her hand in front of his face. “What?” She followed his gaze and glanced over her shoulder at Billy. “What’d he do?”</p><p class="p1">“Nothing,” Will said. “I don’t know.” Maybe he was just jumpy. This week, the kids at school had been hard to deal with.</p><p class="p1">“Nancy said he’s been behaving himself,” Max told them quietly. “Which is good. Usually he breaks after like a week, so.”</p><p class="p1">“So he’s due,” Will said darkly.</p><p class="p1">Max whacked his arm. “No! So he’s not going to, is what I meant. I mean Mike’s been a real pain in the ass to him, but what else is new. And if that hasn’t gotten him to snap, I don’t know what else would.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, Mike can be the worst,” Will muttered, feeling a little warm.</p><p class="p1">“Mike is trying,” El said, with a bit of a frown. “Billy is also the worst.”</p><p class="p1">Will glanced back at Billy, who was walking towards them. “I guess,” he said, and Max gave her a sharp look that said she heard what he really meant, which was that he wasn’t sure. And Will couldn’t say why he wasn’t sure, but the fact was that he wasn’t nervous about Billy anymore. Just sort of… aware of him.</p><p class="p1">More aware, though, after Billy tossed his plate down on the other end of the table they were sitting at. The boys were in the living room. Nancy and Robin were eating at the kitchen island. So this was kind of weird. Will and Max and El shared a significant look.</p><p class="p1">“He can’t see me,” El said quietly, to just him. “Not like before.” Even though the rest of her powers were on hold, it seemed she could still read Will’s mind. Or maybe that was just sisters.</p><p class="p1">And then Max put her hand on Will’s knee and whispered, “He also still can’t really walk. So.” Which meant it wasn’t just his sister but both girls that could read his mind, better than the guys ever could. And that wasn’t a big deal, necessarily, but he was rethinking some things. He was sort of rethinking a lot of things, but he was doing it more actively now. Now that he’d slept on everything that happened this summer, and after he and El had that particularly deep late-night conversation in their new shared bedroom. That had sort of rearranged his thinking, in a lot of ways.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Max said. “You okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Will is going through a lot,” El told her conspiratorially. “His family just doubled in size.”</p><p class="p1">“It’s not that,” Will said with an eye roll and a smile. “I’m happy you’re in our family.” Nobody messed with him when El was around.</p><p class="p1">El knew that. She grinned. “Duh. We share a room, I know basically everything about you.”</p><p class="p1">Not everything, though. Will bit his lip.</p><p class="p1">“It’s not fair,” Max said, crossly munching on a carrot. “You guys get a sleepover every night.”</p><p class="p1">“You know you’re invited to actually sleepover whenever you want, though, right?” Will said. “Like, Mom doesn’t care.”</p><p class="p1">“Dad would probably prefer it,” El added. “He likes when everyone’s in one place.”</p><p class="p1">Max and Will shared a look about that - still weird when El called Hopper Dad. “Okay,” Max said. “I’ll think about it. I mean I feel kinda bad about leaving Mom-”</p><p class="p1">“Don’t,” Billy spoke up from the other end of the table. He did not look up from his plate. “She’s a big girl, she can handle herself.”</p><p class="p1">Will wrinkled his nose up. El frowned at Billy, which if she still had her powers would be threatening. But they let Max handle this, for now. “Screw you, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.</p><p class="p1">Billy, it seemed, had no response. He took another bite, and continued to refuse to look at them. So Max continued. “I feel bad about leaving her alone, so. I have to figure that out.”</p><p class="p1">“Maybe she’d come over,” Will said. “She doesn’t really know any of the other moms yet, maybe… I mean, she and my mom would probably have…” <em>A lot to talk about</em>, Will almost said, before remembering he’d never really told Max anything about his dad. He hadn’t told El either, but something about her had always known. And Billy was listening too, Will remembered with a jolt. He looked over and found the older boy staring at him. “A great time,” Will finished, and took a big bite to stop himself.</p><p class="p1">“I can ask,” Max shrugged, really normal.</p><p class="p1">Robin came over then, plopping her plate down next to Max. “What’s cracking?” she said flatly, and had a large bite of her pizza.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know, what?” Max said.</p><p class="p1">“No, that’s… just. Never mind. Will,” Robin said, and Will gave her his full attention. “How’s your brother?”</p><p class="p1">“He’s okay,” Will said. “But I thought you didn’t like him.”</p><p class="p1">“Perceptive,” Robin said, and took a bite. She pointed at him with the pizza slice. “I’ve always liked you.” Will blushed a little. “You’re right - I don’t care. But Nancy cares. And Nancy has asked me pretend to care.”</p><p class="p1">Friends pretended to like things for each other a lot. Will knew that. Apparently, that never went away. “He’s gonna go work on his car soon,” Will added, and felt Billy’s eyes on him again.</p><p class="p1">Robin nodded. “Great news tidbit.” Then she caught Billy staring and glared at him. And Will had a new goal in his life: win Robin over as a friend. There was something about her he really liked.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Robin resented a lot of things about Billy, but mostly she hated how ordinary he was. Some of the other kids treated him like a supernatural force, a malevolent entity of some kind. She was old enough to know better. He was just a teenager, a couple years older than her but only one grade above her, and he wasn’t even particularly tall. Robin’s older brother Ethan was tall. Billy was normal-sized. So. Ordinary in that sense, but also in the sense that Robin could already tell his whole deal.</p><p class="p1">It was only a mystery to the rest of the group because they were so involved in the Russian spy plots and supernatural alternate universe mix-ups. Otherwise it’d be pretty obvious to them too; Billy pretended to thrive off their hate. Pretty solid schtick for an angry new kid. But what nobody else seemed to catch was how fragile any sort of care made him.</p><p class="p1">Robin saw it first when Steve healed enough to join everybody at Nancy’s one of those big family evenings. He’d made the effort to shake Billy’s hand, dumb sympathetic dope that he was, and said with medium sincerity, “Glad you made it out alright, I guess.” Then Steve had moved on. But Billy had not.</p><p class="p1">She was supposed to be getting punch ladled out into cups, but she’d frozen watching Billy. He’d reacted stiffly to Steve, accepting the hand shake, and then appeared to think of something to say too late, and deflated.</p><p class="p1">Once, Robin had overheard Nancy asking Billy how he felt, and then commenting on how flushed he looked a minute later with no self-awareness as to how the two of those things were probably connected. Once, El had loudly declared the Mind Flayer to be “not Billy’s fault” to the room of children, and Billy disappeared into the upstairs bathroom for ten minutes. Once, Dustin expressed the opinion that saving El was a heroic move, and Billy went out back for a smoke but also Robin caught him wiping his face.</p><p class="p1">It didn’t feel like rocket science to connect these dots. It just felt sort of depressingly predictable. Like the asshole bully would get away with having been a bully because he was also <em>just</em> an asshole teenager and not a supernatural being anymore. Bullies were bad enough to deserve consequences, Robin thought. There were a couple girls in her grade she would consider worse than what a demogorgon sounded like, though she supposed to be scientific she’d have to ask one of the kids.</p><p class="p1"><em>Tell me, is it worse for something to try and kill you or for someone to make you want to kill yourself? </em>That was the most tactful way of asking she could think of, and it was definitely not something she’d ever say.</p><p class="p1">So Robin invested her energy into hating him, ordinary actual him. There was a lot to work with. He refused to be helpful to the family that had taken him in. He was mean to Max to make sure no one got the impression he cared about her. He shrugged off any talk of what had happened at the mall. And Robin was sick and tired of it.</p><p class="p1">The next time she was over at the Wheelers - and it was pretty often, she loved Nancy infinitely more the more time she spent with her, Steve’s thing for her was really making a certain type of sense - Robin resolved to finally do something about it. Billy skulked out to the kitchen when they were occupied in the living room, as he did, and Robin ambushed him while he had the fridge open.</p><p class="p1">“Make any little girls cry recently?” Robin said, in a tone she considered to be extremely fair and balanced.</p><p class="p1">“Jesus Christ,” Billy muttered, and took his sweet time turning around with an apple. “Stick up your ass much?”</p><p class="p1">Robin didn’t move, arms crossed as she leaned against the doorframe. “Good one,” she said. “Y’know what I liked better? When you broke Steve’s orbital bone.”</p><p class="p1">"So this is about your boyfriend," Billy said.</p><p class="p1">'Oh, grow up," Robin snapped. "Just because you've never successfully had a friend, let alone one who's a girl, doesn't mean every other guy is incapable."</p><p class="p1">Billy was speechless. "Do you have a point?" he eventually asked, his voice hardening. "Or are you just pissed and trying to take it out on somebody. Just I know what we're doing here."</p><p class="p1">Robin shrugged. "None of your business," she said, and walked away too quickly for him to catch her.</p><p class="p1">Okay. So it wasn't exactly revolutionary to bully the bully. But it made her feel a hell of a lot better. It made her feel like people weren't just forgetting what he'd done. She would throw a few jabs his way every time she saw him, he'd try and hit her back and fail, and she kept expecting it would make her feel better and it just didn't. He was still the person that beat Steve's face in and scared Max and called kids fags at school and almost killed all of them, and she was still mad.</p><p class="p1">New Years' was a whole group kind of event, at Jonathan's house. The parents were out. Robin was having a great time, sitting on the counter and watching Steve and Nancy cook, when the door opened one last time and Max walked in with Billy behind her.</p><p class="p1">"The fuck is he doing here?" she said.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan looked at Nancy. Nancy adopted her sternest look. "Look," she began.</p><p class="p1">"No," Robin said. Steve leaned on the counter next to her, but his support was really up in the air. He was totally still in love with Nancy. "Why do I have to pretend to like him?"</p><p class="p1">Billy definitely heard that. He looked at them. Robin glared at him. "You don't have to pretend anything," Nancy said. "But Max wanted me to invite him."</p><p class="p1">Steve poked Robin's knee. "He really gets under your skin, huh?" he said.</p><p class="p1">"I guess," Robin said. "Why isn't he under yours?"</p><p class="p1">He shrugged. "Dunno. I've got other things to be mad at."</p><p class="p1">Maybe that was it. Billy, and every other ordinary gay-bashing asshole, was all Robin had.</p><p class="p1">It was a fun night. The younger squad was in good spirits; they were all getting along for once, too. Will and the girls were as tight as ever - which Robin noticed with a twist in her gut, because she knew what that might mean. She’d heard what kids said about him. They were all watching some nerd movie, and saying the lines along with it. Robin watched from the kitchen with Steve and Nancy and Jonathan.</p><p class="p1">"They're getting so big," Nancy said after a bit, quietly.</p><p class="p1">"Right? Like overnight," Jonathan agreed.</p><p class="p1">Steve was watching them, totally lovesick. Robin excused herself to go pee. Sometimes she couldn't tell if Steve was in love with Nancy, Jonathan, or their relationship. Most of the time he shrugged it off, but when he got tired she could see it. And tonight for some reason, it just really bummed her out. She took a luxurious amount of time to wash and dry her hands, and then looked at herself in the mirror.</p><p class="p1">It was reasonable for Steve to be in love with Nancy. It was a matter of time before Robin fell in love with her too.</p><p class="p1">Robin opened the door and discovered Billy, waiting outside in the hall. "Can I help you?" Robin frowned.</p><p class="p1">"Gotta piss," he said shortly.</p><p class="p1">"Oh."</p><p class="p1">She tried to stay as far away from him as possible, but that was tough given the narrow hallway and small bathroom. They got pretty close. She made it out, though, and she took one step down the hall before Billy said, "Hey."</p><p class="p1">"What?" she snapped, turning back around.</p><p class="p1">"What's your deal?" he demanded. "Seriously. I don't even know who you are."</p><p class="p1">"Really?" she said. "Because I know who you are. I know exactly who you are."</p><p class="p1">That made him laugh. "Sure," he said, and went to close the door.</p><p class="p1">Robin slammed it back open. "You know, I'm really happy for you," she said with the most sarcasm she could manage. "I'm so glad you feel like you don't deserve this. I hope to one day be as totally self-deluded as you. I think I'd be a lot happier than I am right now."</p><p class="p1">"Hold on," Billy said, and she could see he was getting really mad.</p><p class="p1">"What?" she demanded.</p><p class="p1">"I get it," he said in a low voice. "Shit rolls downhill, I almost killed those kids and a lot worse, and I get that you're mad about that. That makes sense." She was mad about being lectured by him too, while they were listing reasons. "But what I don't get is why you're still pissed at me when even Mike lightened up months ago."</p><p class="p1">Robin couldn't quite bring herself to defend Mike. "Somebody's gotta hold the grudge," she said, but that sounded weak. "It's not like attempted murder has an expiration date."</p><p class="p1">This was, evidently, infuriating. Billy clenched his jaw, and his fingertips on the doorframe went white. "I swear to God if Harrington's putting you up to this-" he began to mutter.</p><p class="p1">"Right, sorry, I forgot I belong to whatever man I'm standing near."</p><p class="p1">Billy scoffed. "Don't try telling me the two of you aren't hooking up, I see how you look at him."</p><p class="p1">"You see how I look at him," Robin repeated, disbelief sort of paralyzing her.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Billy nodded, clearly feeling victorious.</p><p class="p1">"Well I'd love to know what you see, since I will never and have never been into him." While she delivered that furious proclamation, she came a few steps closer, crowding Billy back into the bathroom.</p><p class="p1">"Can you guarantee that, though?” he said, a wicked sort of question meant to make trouble.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Robin said with finality.</p><p class="p1">There was a brief pause where they both just glared at each other, close. Robin was almost panting; her face was hot. And then Billy's face turned to suspicion, and she went instantly cold.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Steve said warily, from the end of the hall near the living room. “What’s going on here?”</p><p class="p1">“Nothing,” Robin said.</p><p class="p1">"Everything good here?"</p><p class="p1">"Your girlfriend's a real bitch," Billy said.</p><p class="p1">"She's not my girlfriend," Steve said, coming closer. "Though I'd get married in a heartbeat."</p><p class="p1">Robin gave him a look; this was his new favorite joke, the idea of marrying as some kind of prank. Really, Robin thought he just didn't want her to leave him. "You're unbearable," she said.</p><p class="p1">Steve shrugged, a bemused smile on his face. "What's going on?" he asked her, specifically.</p><p class="p1">"I've gotta piss," Billy answered and shut the door.</p><p class="p1">Robin took a step back from the bathroom door and reluctantly looked at Steve. "He thinks I'm being hard on him," she said.</p><p class="p1">"You kinda are," Steve shrugged, and leaned against the wall. "I'm not about to stick up for the guy, but. Facts are facts."</p><p class="p1">"Have you ever considered that being hard on him is the least of what..." She lost steam and sighed. It was hard to be mad at Steve. "I think it's a dangerous precedent to set, forgiving people," Robin finally said.</p><p class="p1">"You never forgive anyone ever?"</p><p class="p1">"I've never forgiven a single person who's given me a concussion and you shouldn’t either,” Robin said, in a tone that she considered extremely reasonable.</p><p class="p1">Steve gave her a look. "Oh, that happens a lot, for you?"</p><p class="p1">"Once," she said. "And only because she pushed me off the swing set and I hit my head weird.”</p><p class="p1">“She who?”</p><p class="p1">“Patty McLahren. I’ll never forgive her. And I shouldn’t have to!”</p><p class="p1">Steve held his hands up. “I’m not saying you have to. I’m just saying, I’m not out there egging Patty’s house. But I might get around to it if there’s something else I’m pissed about.”</p><p class="p1">Robin glared at him. “If there’s something you want to say, Harrington.”</p><p class="p1">“Are you okay?” he asked.</p><p class="p1">She glanced at the bathroom door. Billy was probably listening. “I’m fine,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“You’re not fine, champ,” Steve said. “C’mere.” He wrapped his arms around her, and put his chin on top of her head. “If he hurt you, I’ll burn his house down,” he said, like that was some sort of foregone conclusion.</p><p class="p1">“He lives with the Wheelers.”</p><p class="p1">“The sentiment,” Steve sighed, and Robin laughed. She squeezed him tight. “Seriously, is that what’s going on?”</p><p class="p1">Robin sighed glumly. It would be rude to tell him that he would never understand what was going on, but the fact of the matter was he wouldn’t. He was straight. “Nothing,” she said. “I’ll just avoid him.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">El and Will had a lot in common, like, a lot. If it was just the two of them, they didn't really talk much. Mike brought it out of them, and Max did, but when everybody else went home and it was just El and Will again, they'd curl up in bed and read or draw or both but rarely felt the need to talk about it. She knew what he'd say before he said it, and Will knew about her too.</p><p class="p1">Something El discovered, as the school year passed and Christmas approached, was that being quiet got the two of them a lot of privileges the other kids didn't get. And also being at the Byers house. Jonathan didn't have a car anymore, so that meant Nancy and Steve would have to come pick him up to do anything, and about half the time when they went somewhere, they'd let El and Will tag along. Sometimes Nancy would bring Mike but sometimes she wouldn't, and it would just be El and Will and the big kids, watching something on TV late at night or going to the lake and laying on a blanket that smelled like the Wheelers' house. On those types of nights, El discovered that Steve and Jonathan and Nancy knew each other really well too. Some of those nights and afternoons, they barely spoke too. And then it was just the five of them, sitting somewhere. Just sitting.</p><p class="p1">It was snowing, when Nancy decided to change things. That was the first time she brought Billy with her for one of the movie nights. She showed up with Billy in tow, sat him on the couch, and looked at Steve and Jonathan. No one was really happy with it. Jonathan got surly, which was a word El learned from Joyce. He crossed his arms and scowled, and El knew what Will expected to come next. Jonathan would storm off, or lock himself in his room or something.</p><p class="p1">Apparently, that wasn't in Nancy's plan. "Speak now or forever hold your peace," she said firmly. "Come on."</p><p class="p1">Surprisingly, Jonathan actually listened to her. "Whatever," he said after a second. "Just seems like you should probably talk to us about this shit first."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Steve said. "I'm with Byers. You can't forgiveness instead of permission us. Y'know, you're lucky Rob's not here, she'd pitch a fit." </p><p class="p1">Will and El shared a look. That was true. The two of them were sitting on the floor by the TV, watching all of this happen. They had a front row seat to Billy's uncomfortable fidgeting.</p><p class="p1">"Well," Nancy said. "I'm sorry. But I was not leaving him home alone with my mother."</p><p class="p1">"For Christ's sake," Billy sighed. "I'm not gonna fuck your mom."</p><p class="p1">Will looked very intently at the carpeting, eyes wide, while El stared at Will; this was a development neither of them had expected. Well, nobody had, really, judging by the pandemonium that inspired. But at the end of all of that, Jonathan and Steve didn't push the issue. They sat, on the opposite end of the couch as Billy, and Nancy sat in the middle, and watched a bunch of Twilight Zones.</p><p class="p1">This was the rare situation that required conversation. El got up to get snacks, and Will followed her into the kitchen. She got out the pop, and Will got the cups and ice. "Weird," Will said.</p><p class="p1">"Weird," El agreed. She poured them two cups full. "Why's he here?"</p><p class="p1">He shrugged. "He's living with them."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah, but not with us."</p><p class="p1">"Maybe they're friends."</p><p class="p1">That seemed unlikely. El made a face to that effect, and Will grinned. "He did save your life," he pointed out.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," El had to admit, although that was something she avoided thinking about. "But still."</p><p class="p1">"I know," Will said. "I just... we don't remember that enough, I think. I couldn't... when he was in my head I could barely move a finger. So. It was... probably really hard. But."</p><p class="p1">El hugged him tight, so she wouldn't see whether or not the tears in his eyes spilled over. "Okay," she said.</p><p class="p1">"Nancy probably knows that too," he said into her shoulder, muffled.</p><p class="p1">So that made a lot more sense. Honestly, she should've thought of that herself. It wasn't like Nancy to stop holding a grudge. El didn't hate him, anyways. She just didn't like him. He made Max upset a lot, and before he saved her life he did basically almost kill her. Or the Mind Flayer in his skin did, and that wasn't the same at all - Will would want her to note that, so she did every time she thought about it - except it was hard for her not to feel like it was the same, in the end. If he had killed her, it would've been Billy doing it, in most ways that matter.</p><p class="p1">El patted his back. "Let's skip the movie," she said. "Let's go read comics and draw and listen to music. Okay?"</p><p class="p1">"Okay."</p><p class="p1">Sharing a room was, apparently, something that could've been tense, judging by what TV had to say about it. By now, El had seen tons of episodes of sisters sharing rooms or brothers sharing rooms where they fought all the time. And Will and her didn't always agree on things like when to turn the light off or whether or not music should be on, but it didn't really matter. And tonight they agreed, anyways. Will put on Cindi Lauper, and sat in bed to draw. El flopped down on her stomach next to him.</p><p class="p1">"I wonder why Max didn't come with them," Will said after a while.</p><p class="p1">"Lucas," El said. "Probably."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah." Will wasn't happy with that answer.</p><p class="p1">"It's probably nice for things to feel normal," El suggested after a second.</p><p class="p1">Will nodded, but he was still hurt. She could see that. It wasn't easy for everybody to start dating, she knew he felt left behind. All she could do was try and make it clear she'd never go anywhere, Mike or no Mike. Most of the time, that seemed good enough.</p><p class="p1">"We'll call her tomorrow," El said. "And hang out."</p><p class="p1">"Okay," Will said, more brightly, and El went back to her comic book.</p><p class="p1">The album kept playing. They switched positions after a while, Will stretching out on the bed and El sitting up against the walls with her legs over him. "I hate this song," Will said eventually.</p><p class="p1">"Oh my god," El sighed. "It's not that bad."</p><p class="p1">"It's so boring."</p><p class="p1">"Then go change it."</p><p class="p1">"You change it, I'm lying down."</p><p class="p1">"I'm sitting! I don't want to crawl over you."</p><p class="p1">While they were arguing, the door swung open. Billy was standing there. For several long moments they were just looking at each other. "Can we help you?" El asked when she couldn't bear it any longer.</p><p class="p1">"Bathroom," he said.</p><p class="p1">"Next door," Will said.</p><p class="p1">They watched Billy warily. He didn't move right away. It almost looked like he wanted to say something, El thought, though she couldn't be sure since she hadn't spoken to him since the hospital. His hair was a little longer, maybe. His jean jacket had some kind of button on one pocket.</p><p class="p1">"You talked to Max recently?" he asked grudgingly, looking at El.</p><p class="p1">El resisted the urge to look at Will before answering. "I don't know."</p><p class="p1">Billy nodded, but didn't leave. He put his hands in his pockets, somewhat awkwardly, and shifted on his feet. "She's doing alright, though?"</p><p class="p1">"You don't talk to your own sister?"</p><p class="p1">"She don't talk to me, so." Billy shrugged. "She talks to Nance, I guess. Nance says she's fine." That should've been an answer, El thought, but Billy didn't seem to be satisfied with that. He stood there, waiting for them to answer.</p><p class="p1">"Why would she not be fine?" Will asked after a second. "Did something happen?"</p><p class="p1">Oh, that was a good idea. Billy shifted uncomfortably, and El thought that meant Will was right. And, actually, as she thought about the time she'd spent in his mind, El had to admit she knew him different than everyone else. Maybe better. More like he knew himself. She could see him younger if she concentrated.</p><p class="p1">Billy looked at her, and didn't say anything. "She's still living with your dad," El said, since he wouldn't.</p><p class="p1">"With her mom," Billy said, emphasis on the hers-ness.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah, but. You're not worried about that." He was worried, though. That was his weird energy. Worry for Max that he didn't want to admit to.</p><p class="p1">The album ended. Will pulled himself up, got up and took the record off and put it back in its sleeve. "You don't trust what Nancy says?" he asked, and came back to El's side.</p><p class="p1">"You could just answer the goddamn question," Billy said, with a hint of the nastiness El knew him for. "So I can get out of here."</p><p class="p1">El didn't need to look at Will to know that wasn't an option. "Ask her yourself," she said. "Bye."</p><p class="p1">Billy did not leave, right away. He put his hands on his hips, and looked at El in particular. She looked right back in his eyes, and thought about the few other times they'd been in the same room. The mall, and parties and things. Usually he stayed out of the way when she went to Mike's. It seemed like he was scared of her now. Maybe that was why. "Okay," he finally said, after a long pause that was uncomfortable. And he left, abruptly, and went into the bathroom and shut the door.</p><p class="p1">El and Will looked at each other. "What was that?" Will said.</p><p class="p1">"She's our friend," El answered. "We can't-"</p><p class="p1">"No, totally, but why's he even asking? That's..."</p><p class="p1">"Weird. Yeah."</p><p class="p1">Will was thinking. He chewed on his lip. "Max is okay, though, right?" he finally said. "Like, we're sure?"</p><p class="p1">She wasn't sure, and he wasn't either. "We'll talk to her," she said. "At school, Monday."</p><p class="p1">It didn't come up until more like Wednesday, because they didn't want to push it. El and Max were in the bathroom together, and Max was trying to get peanut butter out of the end of part of her hair, and El watched, holding paper towels. "Hey," she said when she couldn't stop herself. "How are things with, like. Your parents."</p><p class="p1">"What do you mean?" Max asked without looking up.</p><p class="p1">"Like. I know Billy's dad is an asshole. I saw, in his... head. When I was..."</p><p class="p1">Max did look up then, and made eye contact with El in the mirror. "You saw me?" she asked, and it was hard to tell what she meant.</p><p class="p1">"No. Well yeah, but I mean I saw him," El answered. "Like, younger than us. I saw... things. That his dad did. And..."</p><p class="p1">"Oh," Max said. And that was all she said. She went back to her hair, leaning under the faucet to rinse out the hand soap.</p><p class="p1">"I think Billy's worried," El tried again. "That without him there, things are..."</p><p class="p1">"Mom doesn't let him touch me," Max said.</p><p class="p1">That was reassuring, right? "Good," El nodded.</p><p class="p1">Max finished with her hair, and turned to take the paper towels. She made a bit of a face as she squeezed the wet piece of hair with them. "I don't want Billy to think he needs to come back," Max said then. "Okay? If he tries to ask you again, or whatever. I'm fine. I'm at Lucas' house most of the time anyways."</p><p class="p1">El nodded again, but in her heart of hearts she knew that Max had just avoided the question in a way that made El very nervous.</p><p class="p1">She filled Will while they waited for Steve to pick them up. He was taking them home day, but he was probably hung up arguing with Jonathan over something. They liked to argue. It was something Will didn't like to talk about, but always watched intently. But that was beside the point.</p><p class="p1">"Oh," Will said after she'd said everything she wanted to say. "That's..."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah."</p><p class="p1">In the following awkward, thoughtful silence, Billy approached them. It wasn't so weird - they were at the high school, waiting for Steve to meet them here by the doors. But it was weird how he was totally looking for them and then, now that he found them, took a second to talk. "You guys seen Nancy?" he finally asked.</p><p class="p1">"No," Will answered, and asked El, "Where's Mike?"</p><p class="p1">"I think he and Dustin are working late on their chemistry project."</p><p class="p1">"Maybe Nancy's with Steve," Will suggested, and that was the best idea El could think of, so she nodded.</p><p class="p1">Billy nodded too, and leaned on the wall on the opposite side of the hall from them. And now, apparently, they were waiting together. El looked at Will, and Will did sort of a shrug with just his face. Okay, so neither of them knew what was going on. El suggested, with her eyes, that they walk away, but Will didn’t like that idea so they stayed where they were.</p><p class="p1">“You two,” Billy said after a second. “You’re the ones with the connection to that… place.”</p><p class="p1">“Yes,” El said warily. “Why?”</p><p class="p1">"What's it feel like?"</p><p class="p1">El tilted her head curiously. That was not the question she was expecting. "I don't know," she said. "I'm different than the two of you." She looked at Will, who seemed petrified.</p><p class="p1">"What did which part feel like?" Will said. She could tell it was hard for him, and leaned against his side, for support.</p><p class="p1">"The..." Billy dropped his book bag to cross his arms. "I don't know. The connection thing."</p><p class="p1">Will didn't like talking about that. El was ready to tell Billy to go pound salt, if she needed to, but Will didn't need her this time. He answered. "Like a shiver. And a pull, sometimes. But sometimes it snuck up on me, too."</p><p class="p1">"But you always knew it was there," Billy said, not quite a question.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Will agreed.</p><p class="p1">Billy nodded back at him, and looked outside. The winter was ending quicker than last year - no snow even though it wasn't even February yet. Instead it was just grey and gross. El was glad to have a house this winter, though, it was much better than hiding out in the woods like a year ago. Dad was good for many reasons, but that was the first one, the big one.</p><p class="p1">"Is it there?" Will asked after a long pause. "For you?"</p><p class="p1">Billy hesitated. "Dunno," he said, which El thought was a lie. She didn't get to ask, though, because then Robin came down the hallway.</p><p class="p1">"Hey bozos!" she shouted while she was still far away. "Joyce is coming, we've gotta get out of here."</p><p class="p1">"Why?" El said.</p><p class="p1">"Demogorgon sighting," Robin said, and El's stomach dropped.</p><p class="p1">"Who saw it?" Will asked.</p><p class="p1">"Hopper," Robin said, and now she was close enough to them to talk normally. "Nancy took off to get your brother from the garage, she's got Lucas and Max. Steve has Mike and Dustin, and Joyce is picking us up."</p><p class="p1">Billy frowned. "And where are we going?" he asked.</p><p class="p1">Robin did not like Billy. This was clear from how she refused to look at him at all. "Somewhere safe," she said shortly.</p><p class="p1">"You think I want the thing to follow us?" he demanded.</p><p class="p1">"I think we can't be sure," Robin countered, and Will and El exchanged a look. Will hated this. It would be good for his mom to be here.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Joyce was a good driver. She was! But extenuating circumstances meant she often had to prioritize things other than the rules of the road, and it wasn't like Hopper was going to arrest her. She'd like to see him try.</p><p class="p1">Well, in any event, she knew she could drive well but in this case she was solidly 15 over the limit for most of the way to the school, because the kids were in danger. Hopper wasn't an excitable kind of guy, so him saying he saw a demogorgon - no question mark, a statement - had Joyce pretty much running for her kids, all of them but particularly Will.</p><p class="p1">It did feel a little better knowing he was with El. El had a good head on her shoulders, and even if she couldn't move things with her mind she could certainly move them with her hands. But it wasn't like that meant Joyce would go the speed limit.</p><p class="p1">Robin had everybody ready to go the moment they got there, a mad rush to get in that probably looked crazy. Joyce was ready for the renewed whispers at the grocery store already, honestly she didn't give a fuck. Life was crazy.</p><p class="p1">Billy got in the front with her, and the other three went in the back, Will in the middle. Good. Joyce wanted him in her lap.</p><p class="p1">"Tell me where we're going," Billy said the moment they started moving.</p><p class="p1">"Don't," Robin said. "He can't be trusted."</p><p class="p1">Joyce screwed her mouth up. Robin had a good point. She remembered Will in that hospital bed, looking so tiny and talking for someone else. And that was an eleven year old. They hadn’t ruled that out, for Billy. And if he was under the influence of the Upside Down like that, things could get dangerous. But if he was, wouldn't something have happened already? Unless they were being lulled into false security. Shit.</p><p class="p1">"If it's in his head, it will follow us either way," Will said. "Once we get there. It's a good test."</p><p class="p1">"Or we could blindfold him," El suggested.</p><p class="p1">That was a good option. Joyce stopped the car in the driveway of the parking lot and looked at the kids. Billy did not look jazzed, to put it lightly. He took the headband Joyce got from El and tied it over his eyes without complaining, but she'd seen the kid around enough at sleepovers and dinners to know when he was uncomfortable as hell. "Try to relax," she said to him.</p><p class="p1">"Sure. Always relaxed on a day I might kill some kids," Billy muttered.</p><p class="p1">In the back seat, Robin rolled her eyes loudly. The two of them had been in some sort of weird competition basically from the get-go. Joyce glanced in the rearview to see how El and Will felt, but Will was a million miles away and El was just frowning.</p><p class="p1">It wasn't a long drive. Hopper wanted everyone at the police station, because it was easy to fortify and centrally located and full of guns, and also made of cinder blocks. Though, if the monster came in through a wall like it did at home, material wouldn't matter that much. But Joyce didn't have any better ideas. But, the problem that occurred to her as she pulled into the station parking lot was that it was an easily recognizable place, even inside.</p><p class="p1">"Billy," Joyce said as she parked.</p><p class="p1">"Yes ma'am." He was leaning against the window, jiggling one leg nervously. She didn’t like him calling her ma’am, but now was not the time to push that.</p><p class="p1">"Do you think that thing's inside your head?" she asked seriously.</p><p class="p1">"I don't know."</p><p class="p1">"Do you feel it?" she tried again.</p><p class="p1">"I don't know," he repeated, and clenched his hands into fists for a second, before relaxing them. "I can't tell. I don't think so, but. If I'm wrong... I can't be wrong. So. I'll keep the blindfold."</p><p class="p1">Joyce nodded, looking at him. It was probably a good idea.</p><p class="p1">"I'll help him," El said.</p><p class="p1">That was unexpected. Joyce frowned at her, and caught Robin doing the same thing. “Really?” Joyce said.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” El said, sounding every inch a teenager for once. “Whatever.”</p><p class="p1">For all her annoyance, she was actually very careful with Billy. Joyce kept an eye on that - she trusted no strange teenager with any of the kids. But El remained very much in charge. She opened Billy’s door and took his hand, and very matter-of-factly led him along with her. When they got to the steps, she spoke up.</p><p class="p1">“Slow, there are five stairs.” And as they navigated that, Will came up on Billy’s other side and lent his hand for support too. Robin sulked along behind, next to Joyce, with a murderous look on her face.</p><p class="p1">No one else was here yet, besides Hopper, and he was pushing around furniture in a way that made Joyce very nervous for his mental state. It was a crazy doomsday-prepping kind of vibe. “What’s with the blindfold?” he asked when he saw them.</p><p class="p1">“Nice to see you alive and well too,” Joyce snapped without thinking about it. Hopper shook his head, a gruff sort of smile growing on his face.</p><p class="p1">“Safety precaution. We aren’t sure if the Mind Flayer can see through him,” Will said. He and El got Billy to a chair, and then went to help Hopper barricade the perimeter with desks.</p><p class="p1">Joyce helped too, but when she was done she came back to Billy, who was sitting in the chair, arms crossed, blindfold still on. “Billy,” she said. “Hey.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah.”</p><p class="p1">It was better than him saying ma’am. “Holding up okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Just grand.”</p><p class="p1">There was more than a hint of sarcasm there, but Joyce let it slide in favor of giving Will a hug. “We’ll be fine,” she said. “They’re not here for you.”</p><p class="p1">“I hope not,” Will said.</p><p class="p1">The other kids all arrived mostly at once. Nancy and Steve brought weapons. They managed to warn everyone first thing not to mention the location. Most of the kids were too quiet to give anything away anyways. Max was just holding onto Billy’s shoulder and Lucas’ hand, white as a sheet, and Joyce couldn’t blame her.</p><p class="p1">Joyce and Hopper were keeping an eye on the front and side, and Jonathan was manning the back with a shotgun. Someone had a deck of cards, so some of them were playing halfhearted games of Go Fish while the others sat in anxious silence. Mike was wrapped around El, who was holding Will’s hand. Lucas and Max were intertwined. Steve was sitting next to Billy.</p><p class="p1">“I’m glad we got the jump on this,” Joyce said to Hopper, “but is it just me or is it way worse to sit here waiting to be picked off?”</p><p class="p1">“No one’s getting picked off,” Hopper said.</p><p class="p1">Nancy and Robin were both pacing. “How sure are we it was a demogorgon?” Nancy asked, like she couldn’t help herself.</p><p class="p1">“Pretty damn sure, kid,” Hopper snapped. “Considering the reaction, don’t you think? Or does everyone think I’d overreact like this?”</p><p class="p1">“Well, it’s not like you typically under react,” Joyce said.</p><p class="p1">“Bedroom door,” El added, nonsensically.</p><p class="p1">Hopper just grunted like it meant something and shut up. He peered through the window. “If it’s not here by morning we’re figuring something else out,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“I hope so,” Joyce said. “I need a bed.”</p><p class="p1">“Hard to explain to the deputies, I’d imagine,” Robin added, mostly to herself.</p><p class="p1">Fuck. There went the secret. It had to be someone, she supposed. You can’t put eleven kids in a room and expect them to keep a secret. Plus, Robin realized what she said a second after Joyce did, and clapped her hands over her mouth in horror.</p><p class="p1">“Take him into holding,” Hopper said without missing a beat. “If the thing is listening, we can’t let it know what our defenses are. Go with him,” he added to Robin. Punishment, maybe.</p><p class="p1">“I’ll come,” Steve said immediately.</p><p class="p1">“And me,” Will said. “We have to figure out about the Mind Flayer for once and for all.” He gave El a significant look; apparently she would not be coming. Then he looked at Joyce, silently pleading. “Okay,” Joyce said. “Go.”</p><p class="p1">Hopper was really growing as a person. He waited for those kids to be gone before he swore and kicked a chair. “Fuck,” he added, louder.</p><p class="p1">Joyce screwed her mouth up. Billy had been warm when she touched him. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think we might be okay.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Steve was the last in, so he shut the door behind them. They were in one of the questioning rooms, a table and three chairs. Nancy guided Billy into a chair facing away from the door. Will stood by the door, like he thought he had to keep watch or something, and Steve leaned against the wall on one side, watching everybody. He was close enough to touch Robin, but that would've been a distinctly bad idea. They knew each other pretty well by now, he thought, but he'd never seen her like this. Generally, Robin was chill. Right now, though, she was an inferno. She sat next to Nancy and folded her hands on the table, but every part of her was trembling and she kept her eyes on her hands, only.</p><p class="p1">After a second, Billy pulled the blindfold off and twisted the scarf or whatever it was around his hand. The guy was nervous too, for all he was trying to hide it by slouching back in the chair. After a second he spoke up. "Well. Thanks to you, we'll get a real test." That was aimed at Robin. Bad idea.</p><p class="p1">Nancy tried to step in. "Nobody blames you," she said to Robin. "Everybody makes mistakes."</p><p class="p1">"I know," Robin said. Her voice set Steve on edge, she was more pissed off than anyone he could remember ever being. Definitely more mad than he'd ever been. "I'm not..."</p><p class="p1">"Rob," Steve said when she wouldn't finish the sentence. "It's okay to be upset, I never know how to handle the shit like this either. Honestly I was probably a second away from screwing things up myself. Remember when we were spying on those Russians and-"</p><p class="p1">"I'm not upset about that," she said, and her immediate jaw clench told Steve she'd meant to say she wasn't upset at all. Robin couldn't lie, though. He loved that about her.</p><p class="p1">"Then what is it?" Nancy asked.</p><p class="p1">There was a long pause. Nobody moved. Then Billy looked at Steve, deliberately, and said, "You two break up or something?"</p><p class="p1">Now this was weird. Steve and Billy were actually on pretty good terms now. They'd played basketball at the rec together, once Billy was back on his feet, and were pretty pleasant most of the time. So Steve knew that Billy knew he wasn't and was never dating Robin, and didn't get why he'd act otherwise. That is, until Robin shot up from her chair, knocking it back with a screech, and began a furious tirade about how little she belonged to Steve. Which, ouch. But Steve glanced back at Billy, saw the defiance and satisfaction on his face, and figured it out. Billy knew just where Robin's buttons were, and he was going straight for them.</p><p class="p1">"Then what's this about?" Billy cut her off when she faltered.</p><p class="p1">"Nothing. None of your business."</p><p class="p1">"Which one?" Nancy asked, and Billy shot her a grateful look.</p><p class="p1">"Both!" Robin claimed, but when Nancy didn't buy it she tried again. "It's not about anything, this is a really fucking stressful situation." She looked at Steve for support, but he couldn't pretend she was making sense.</p><p class="p1">"Babe," he said. "What is it?"</p><p class="p1">Robin was all of a sudden crying, a few tears streaking down her face quick enough he almost missed it. "You know what it is," she said.</p><p class="p1">Everybody else looked at him, but Steve definitely did not know. "I don't," he said. "Rob, just talk to us. We're your friends."</p><p class="p1">"He's not my fucking friend!" Robin yelled, pointing at Billy. "And he's not yours either, I don't know how you're all being so naive about-"</p><p class="p1">"The Mind Flayer isn't in him anym-" Nancy began.</p><p class="p1">Robin turned on her with such force that Steve was almost worried for Nancy, and Nancy had faced down a speeding car. "If you think that fucking smoke thing was our only concern you're delusional," Robin said.</p><p class="p1">Billy raised his eyebrows. "The fuck does that mean?" he asked, watching Robin so intently. It was something, how calm he was in the face of her rage. Steve didn't know what to think of it, but he knew it meant something.</p><p class="p1">"Oh, am I suddenly speaking fucking French?" Robin demanded, leaning over the table. "Just because murder's on your record now, that makes everything else okay?"</p><p class="p1">"He didn't kill anyone," Will said, his voice small but steady.</p><p class="p1">That calmed Robin down a little. "Even more reason he shouldn't be off the hook," she said in a more normal tone, and took a heaving couple of deep breaths.</p><p class="p1">"Off the hook for what?" Nancy said. Steve loved her, how she could never leave well enough alone, but this time he half wished she hadn't.</p><p class="p1">"For..." Robin began, and couldn't finish. Now she was actually crying, and obviously wished she wasn't.</p><p class="p1">Steve put his hand on her shoulder, and Robin reached up to hold his hand there. So Steve leaned down and hugged her, arms around her shoulders and cheek pressed against hers. That helped. He felt her tears, dripping off her chin onto his sleeve. "Hey," he said. "You're okay. I promise you're okay, we aren't letting anybody off the hook. Just tell us what you're talking about."</p><p class="p1">"I can't, though," she said, and pulled away from him to wipe her face on her sleeve. "Like, cannot." And that clarified things. There was only one thing that could be about.</p><p class="p1">"Okay," Steve began.</p><p class="p1">"Why?" Billy interrupted.</p><p class="p1">"Don't," Nancy told him, a hypocrite. She would've asked if he hadn't.</p><p class="p1">"I can't stand you," Robin said, right to Billy's face. "So I'm not sure why you think I'd confide in you."</p><p class="p1">Billy laughed, and spread his arms out wide. "Well, you've gotta do something," he said. "Because if-"</p><p class="p1">"No, I don't have to," she cut him off. "That's the thing. I don't." At the tone in her voice, Steve took half a step back, and Robin leaned over the table again. "I know you really enjoy the power trip of making people react to you, but I don't have to give you the satisfaction of-"</p><p class="p1">"What fucking power trip?" Billy demanded.</p><p class="p1">Robin kept talking through him. “-behaving the way you want me to, just so you-"</p><p class="p1">"I don't want you to do anything," Billy also continued.</p><p class="p1">This time, Robin paused for a second, before continuing louder, "just so you leave me alone! Fucking leave me alone, leave everybody alone! There are enough people in the world who've made it their personal mission to make me want to die, and I don't need any of them to be anywhere near me. You included."</p><p class="p1">"What does that have to do with me?" Billy said, defensive, as Nancy and Steve made unsure eye contact behind Robin. "I haven't said shit to you, I didn't even know who you were until that fucking mall."</p><p class="p1">"Why does this have to be about me?" Robin snapped back. "I heard what you did to Steve, I know you broke Sam Johnson's clarinet in half.” She hesitated. “Hell, I know you called Jonathan a faggot, like a bunch of times, and I don't even like Jonathan but I think that gives me a good enough reason to-"</p><p class="p1">"To what?" Billy said over her. "What are you gonna do about it, you just gonna hate me forever? Over some shit from a year ago?"</p><p class="p1">Robin's face made it clear that was basically exactly her plan, but she only answered with a scowl.</p><p class="p1">"Y'know what I think?" Billy said, and he leaned in now too, looking up at her. “This isn’t about some band geek, or Harrington. Is it.” Which meant there was only one thing left she was upset about, and - oh. Okay. That made sense.</p><p class="p1">Steve found himself holding his breath, waiting for the answer, but Robin didn’t have one right away. She wiped her face again, and looked at Billy and he looked back at her, narrowed his eyes a bit. And then the tension broke. A few more tears rolled down Robin’s cheeks; she swiped at them, and sat back down.</p><p class="p1">“Byers isn’t that bad,” Billy said at last.</p><p class="p1">That was nonsense. “What are you talking about, you don’t like him at all,” Steve said. “It’s like, the only thing you and Robin have in common.”</p><p class="p1">“They don’t mean that,” Nancy said to - shit - Will, who was still standing exactly where he was before, looking a little shell-shocked.</p><p class="p1">Will just giggled. “He does suck sometimes,” he said. “He makes sandwiches with just jelly.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh my God, does he?” Steve frowned, momentarily side-tracked.</p><p class="p1">“Everyone has weird food things!” Nancy said defensively. “Come on. But hold on, what just happened there?”</p><p class="p1">Robin looked at Billy and kept her mouth shut, so Billy eventually spoke. “Nothing. She had a good point. Can we move on? Can we figure out if I’m about to kill all of you?”</p><p class="p1">“Can you get better at describing your feelings?” Nancy said pertly.</p><p class="p1">Billy sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. “Do I have a choice?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” Robin said. “Will, c’mere.” She motioned him over. He came, and let Robin pull him into her side with one arm. Actually, he pressed his cheek against her hair, too, for a second, and Steve wondered how much of what had happened the kid had picked up on. Probably more than Steve got. “Tell Will what it feels like,” Robin told Billy. “Won’t leave the room.” And Nancy nodded.</p><p class="p1">Billy finally scooted his chair in, and leaned his arms on the table. “Alright,” he said, and that was that. “Before,” he said slowly. “There was this… big, black… it was like… back of my head, a part I couldn’t get to.”</p><p class="p1">“Yes,” Will nodded. “I avoided it.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, well how do you know when it’s gone or you just can’t find it?”</p><p class="p1">“Are you having the thoughts that aren’t yours?” Will asked.</p><p class="p1">That was bone-chilling. Steve was grateful Billy shook his head no. “Not since the mall. But I can feel that it's close."</p><p class="p1">“Okay."</p><p class="p1">Billy frowned at him. "What does that mean?"</p><p class="p1">"Mom got it out of me with a hot poker," Will said with a shrug. "I think getting stabbed a bunch worked for you, I think it's probably gone."</p><p class="p1">"Then what about the demogorgon?" Nancy asked.</p><p class="p1">Will look around at all of them. "I think..." he began, and hesitated. "Well, it's probably here for El again, right? And me. Maybe Billy. It doesn't like to leave things behind."</p><p class="p1">Jesus, that was chilling too. Steve decided things were calm enough for him to get involved. "Well," he said. "We're not going to let that happen, kiddo."</p><p class="p1">"Never," Nancy agreed. "I'm going to tell Hopper all of this. And to get a gun. We've still gotta stop it." She reached out and squeezed Robin's shoulder really quick, and then got up and left the room.</p><p class="p1">"I'm going back to El," Will said in a small voice, and followed her out.</p><p class="p1">Steve meant to say something to Billy, to thank him or something for being honest and for not taking Robin's head off, but instead Robin got up and looked at Steve, her eyes red and welling up again. So Steve held his arms out to her, and she sort of fell into him, hugging him around the neck. He held her back; her face was hot against his neck, and still sort of vaguely damp but Steve just held her anyways. Until she sniffed hard, and pulled back. Robin took a second to thoroughly wipe her face on the sleeve of her sweater, and then squared her shoulders and looked at him.</p><p class="p1">"We good, Buckley?" Steve asked.</p><p class="p1">"So good, dingus," she answered, much more herself. "Sorry."</p><p class="p1">"Don't be sorry. I get it." He meant it, too. Robin had told her a little bit, about the shit she had to put up with. She didn't have a choice; when he started hanging out with her, he'd seen some of it. Hawkins wasn't exactly progressive. It made a lot more sense, now, to know this was what she was really mad about. The gay thing. Steve wanted to say all of that, but didn't because Billy was still sitting right there, fidgeting with that scarf he'd been blindfolded with.</p><p class="p1">Then Robin turned and looked back at Billy. It was one of the bravest things Steve had witnessed - and that's with his friend group being prone to brave, dumb gestures. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I could've... handled that better."</p><p class="p1">"Shut up," Billy said, but his eyes on her said something else. Steve didn't quite get it. "Go get a gun, or something. It's coming."</p><p class="p1">He was right, the demogorgon showed up soon after that. They'd never beaten one before, Steve tried very hard not to think about that. El didn't have her powers; Steve tried not to think about that either.</p><p class="p1">There were a few moments that stuck out in his mind, while they were kicking ass. Him and Jonathan teaming up - Jonathan getting the demogorgon to focus on him so Steve and Nancy could shoot it from the other side. Billy was good in the fight, Hopper gave him the other shotgun and the two of them unloaded all four barrels between them into the thing, pushing it back into the wall. That was another moment.</p><p class="p1">And then El. She finished it, like she always did. She'd been staying back, with the other kids, but all of a sudden she was in front of all of them, and she screamed. It never got any easier, the screaming thing. Steve winced and backed up, right into the kids. Dustin grabbed his leg, and Mike tried to make a break for El. Will and Steve stopped him, grabbing his arm and shirt and belt loop. El had this under control.</p><p class="p1">Well, it took a second. At first nothing happened, and the demogorgon started to pull itself out of the wall. "Honey," Hopper said.</p><p class="p1">"No," El said. "I can do this." She was bleeding, something had fallen on her, and more than ever Steve saw her as a kid. Standing between them and death, again and again. She'd worn her powers out saving herself. She got them back right now, saving everyone else for like the fourth time. With her two hands, she ripped the demogorgon in half from across the room, and then she stayed standing. And yeah, Steve was understanding why those lab psychos had put hundreds of guys into trying to keep her under their control.</p><p class="p1">Joyce made it to her first, wrapped her up in a hug that made Steve's throat close up. But then Robin and Nancy and Jonathan basically tackled him, and that was way better. He wasn't missing anything.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>LISTEN I'M WEAK this isn't the end, subscribe to the series for more. Mostly about Robin probably.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Mike was being left behind. In the days after the demogorgon attack, he noticed. Max and Lucas had each other, and El and Will were best friends now, and Dustin was hardly around because he had his radio girlfriend. And it wasn’t like it was a bad thing, that Mike’s best friend and his girlfriend were basically like siblings. That was awesome. But that left Mike as the odd man out, and all of a sudden it was totally obvious. And scary. Maybe they wouldn’t even notice if he was missing.</p><p class="p1">Everyone split up that night, which meant Mike went home with Nancy and Billy. Mom and Dad were asleep already, so they had to sneak in. Luckily, Billy seemed to know a lot about that. He told them to take their shoes off outside, and walk near the walls, where the floors creaked less. It worked, though Mike didn’t think they needed to be that careful. Mom wouldn’t be that mad, and Dad never woke up anyways. But whatever. He did it, because Nancy was doing it.</p><p class="p1">When they got upstairs, Nancy whispered. “Shower?”</p><p class="p1">Billy nodded.</p><p class="p1">“You first,” she told Mike. “I’ll go last.”</p><p class="p1">Mike just nodded. He was too tired to argue, and also kind of a million miles away. Once he was out, he sat on the edge of the top bunk and then flopped back onto the bed, so just his legs dangled off.</p><p class="p1">They’d almost died. He thought he needed to really process that too, but that was honestly getting boring. They’d almost died a bunch of times. He couldn’t stop thinking El and Will, going home together and hanging out more than he’d ever hang out with either of them. And then who would his best friend be? Lucas? Lucas was mad at him and obsessed with Max. Same with Dustin. Everyone was obsessed with their girlfriends, but Mike’s girlfriend was obsessed with someone else.</p><p class="p1">Billy came in after his shower, Mike heard the door and the squeak of Billy sitting on the bed. The room was silent for a long moment. “You asleep?” Billy said eventually.</p><p class="p1">“No,” Mike answered, still a million miles away. He felt something brush his foot, like hair maybe.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t kick me in the head,” Billy said, but he didn’t sound mad about it. He was just kind of tired too, maybe. Nobody liked Billy, like they hadn’t for a while. That had to be exhausting. Mike had sympathy for him in a totally new way.</p><p class="p1">Mike sighed loudly, and when he was not acknowledged, sighed again. “Sorry,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it.”</p><p class="p1">“Do you ever think about trying to make people like you?” Mike asked.</p><p class="p1">Billy was quiet for a second. “Excuse me?”</p><p class="p1">“Well. A lot of people don’t. Like most of the people I know. Have you ever thought about trying to change their minds?”</p><p class="p1">With loud complaints from the bedsprings, Billy stood back up again. Mike could feel him, standing close and looking at Mike. “Who doesn’t like me?” he demanded, a little sharply. “You?”</p><p class="p1">“Well of course I don’t, we’re sharing a room,” Mike said patiently. “You never like who you share a room with.”</p><p class="p1">“Nance?”</p><p class="p1">“Does she like you?” Mike asked, sitting up a little and frowning at Billy. Billy just shrugged at him, silently demanding the answer. “I think so. I dunno.”</p><p class="p1">“Then who the fuck are you talking about?”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know. Just in general. Since you were a real prick when you got here,” Mike said. He didn’t think about how easily Billy could pull him off the bed until after he said that. Sharing a room for six months had lowered his guard. But also maybe Billy wasn’t as dangerous as he used to be.</p><p class="p1">“Change it,” Billy finally repeated. “I dunno. Why?”</p><p class="p1">“So people like you,” Mike shrugged.</p><p class="p1">“No,” Billy said, but he sounded weird.</p><p class="p1">The door opened, and Nancy poked her head in. "Hey," she said. She wanted to know what was going on, obviously, and Mike just sighed and dropped his head back down on the bed. "Are you hungry?" she asked after a second.</p><p class="p1">"Always," Mike said.</p><p class="p1">So they snuck back downstairs, and Nancy made eggs and toast, and they all ate around the island. Nancy was in one of Jonathan's sweaters, which Mike knew meant she was stressed, and Billy was spaced out. It was kind of nice. Maybe Mike didn't need his friends. He could hang out with Nancy, she was pretty cool most of the time.</p><p class="p1">"Did you call El?" Nancy asked after a bit.</p><p class="p1">"No," Mike said morosely.</p><p class="p1">"No?" she frowned.</p><p class="p1">"She's fine," Mike said, and had a ferocious bite of his toast. "She's with Hopper and Will and everybody, so. Whatever." He wasn't looking up, so he just felt the two others look at each other and glared at them. "Don't! What? Don't just look at each other. I'm your brother!" he added to Nancy.</p><p class="p1">"I know," she said. "Believe me, I'm aware."</p><p class="p1">"Well then don't look at him about me!"</p><p class="p1">"I'm allowed to look at whoever I want," Nancy snapped back at him. She crossed her arms and gave him a very intense scowl. "What's going on with you? Did you break up?"</p><p class="p1">"No!" Mike said. "We're fine, we didn't even argue."</p><p class="p1">Nancy seemed more exhausted by this. "Then what's the problem?"</p><p class="p1">Mike thought about trying to tell her there wasn't any problem, because he didn't want to tell Billy jack shit, but it was hard to lie to Nancy. And Billy was staying quiet, so Mike wasn't really thinking about him when he said, "I mean... it's not really a problem, yet. I'm just thinking."</p><p class="p1">"Care to share?" Nancy said after a second, and took her last bite. She took her plate to the sink, and took Billy's on the way, and Mike wondered when Billy became somebody Nancy did things for. It kind of made Mike annoyed, until it scared him again, the feeling that more people were changing and moving on without him. Was he just the biggest idiot in the world? Totally clueless? </p><p class="p1">Mike said something like that. He said a lot, really quickly, and he didn't really know what happened until he stopped talking and realized he'd been talking for kind of a long time.</p><p class="p1">"Have you tried talking to her?" Nancy suggested after a moment.</p><p class="p1">"Tell her that I think she likes Will better?" Mike demanded. "Were you listening at all?"</p><p class="p1">Nancy gave him a look. "Do I like you better than Steve?" she said. "Or Jonathan? Give her some credit, she can't only like one person. Or two, or whatever."</p><p class="p1">"That's not the same thing," Mike grumbled.</p><p class="p1">"It's exactly the same thing," Nancy told him. "Dummy. And they both love you. You just have to accept it."</p><p class="p1">Mike sighed and slouched over the counter. "You say that like it's easy."</p><p class="p1">"It doesn't have to be hard," Nancy said, and then took mercy on him and came over and hugged him. "Let's watch something tomorrow," she said. "You pick."</p><p class="p1">Mike was going to pick War Games, but right now he just nodded. "Okay."</p><p class="p1">"It's going to be War Games," Nancy whispered to Billy as they all climbed the stairs again.</p><p class="p1">"I don't know what that is," Billy answered, matching her tone.</p><p class="p1">At least Nancy still knew him. And Billy mainly left him alone, and let Mike mostly forget he'd ever expressed his feelings in Billy's general vicinity, which was perfect. Mike thought about saying something, when they were both in bed and still, but ultimately decided against it. He didn't know what Billy would say. He never did.</p><p class="p1">Despite Nancy's good advice, Mike did exactly nothing about it for the next couple days. He saw everybody at school and mostly things were normal. Maybe they'd always been normal, though. Maybe things were fine, and everyone was just growing up. He'd bring it up with El eventually, he really would, just as soon as he knew how. But then the weekend passed and he hung out with everyone at Will's house but didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, so he didn't say anything then. And then it was Monday again, and he didn't have any more of an idea how to tell El and Will he was jealous of both of them.</p><p class="p1">Mike was home first that day with nothing to do. Nancy wasn't home, Billy was somewhere, Mom and Dad were out. Mike had barely started to be bored when there was a knock on the front door. He was relieved to open it until he saw Max there.</p><p class="p1">"Hey," Max said.</p><p class="p1">"Hi."</p><p class="p1">"Um. Is Billy here?"</p><p class="p1">She didn't look good; Mike noticed it so fast he sort of wondered why he hadn't before. There were dark circles under her eyes and just generally she looked kind of sick. "No," Mike said. "But he'll be back soon."</p><p class="p1">Max nodded, and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay."</p><p class="p1">"Do you want to wait inside?" Mike asked after a second. He was sure she'd say no.</p><p class="p1">"Sure," Max answered with half a smile. So that was easy. Maybe Nancy was right.</p><p class="p1">"Is something wrong?" Mike asked, shutting the door behind them.</p><p class="p1">Max sort of shrugged. "Not really. It's fine."</p><p class="p1">She really didn't look good. Mike wasn't used to looking at her closely for any amount of time, but now that he was he thought she looked skinnier than usual. Taller, too. "Do you want a snack?" he asked. "I always make a snack after school."</p><p class="p1">"Sure."</p><p class="p1">He made pizza rolls. While they were in the oven, he and Max ended up talking about comics - he had a new issue of the X-men that she wanted to hear about, and then she told him about all her opinions on Kitty Pryde. Then, when she pushed her sleeves up to wash her hands he saw a giant bruise on her arm, and where before he would've said something right away, instead he waited.</p><p class="p1">Billy came home while Max was in the bathroom. "What's this?" he said when he saw the kitchen. "They don't feed you kids now?”</p><p class="p1">"I always make a snack after school," Mike claimed.</p><p class="p1">Billy huffed out a skeptical laugh. "Sure you do. What's really going on?"</p><p class="p1">For once, things lined up. Max came out right as he was asking that, and hugged him, and Mike watched Billy think something. Mike wasn't sure what, but just, something.</p><p class="p1">Screw insecurities. Mike went into school the next day and found El and Will at El's locker, and said, "Guys. Are we worried about Max?"</p><p class="p1">They exchanged a look. "Yes," El said. "A lot. Why?"</p><p class="p1">"I think I am too," Mike said. "She came over yesterday."</p><p class="p1">"Billy's been asking us about her," Will said.</p><p class="p1">"But he didn't like, want to," El added.</p><p class="p1">This was about Max, it really was, but Mike couldn't help but feel a little bit of something else. A thrill, while all three of them talked over each other comparing information and coming up with a plan. He could keep up. He still had his best friends. With them, he could figure anything out.</p><p class="p1">Well. Maybe not anything. But it was worth a shot.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">After her big blow up night, Robin spent a lot of time and energy avoiding any memory of it. She didn’t avoid Steve, of course - he was her rock, basically the only friend she could count on - but she stayed studiously far away from the guy she yelled at and the witnesses.</p><p class="p1">To his credit, Billy was easy to avoid. He didn’t seem eager to be around her, and who could blame him, really. She’d chosen the cringiest and most embarrassing way possible to express her total hatred for him, almost to the point where she didn’t even hate him anymore. Not as much as she hated herself for going about it that way. She should’ve simmered on it and waited to chew him out when he really deserved it. She should’ve kept it secret and made him wonder. She should’ve done just about anything besides what she did. So yeah, she stuck to public areas and groups.</p><p class="p1">After a few weeks, her discipline faded, though. It was another one of those group hangs, the whole gang together at Nancy’s house. Her parents were out a lot, Robin thought, but she wasn’t complaining. It felt safest together, and Joyce shouldn’t have to host every time. Robin thought about inviting everyone over, but the prospect of anyone seeing her room freaked her out. Not yet. Maybe later.</p><p class="p1">The whole first floor was buzzing with conversation, the kids laughing and competing for attention. Robin loved it, but then she needed a break. It had been almost a month. She was probably fine to head out back on the patio and sit on a patio chair and smoke a joint, alone, right?</p><p class="p1">Of course, not right. Robin was about halfway through when she heard the door behind her slide open, and she almost didn’t need to look back and see who it was. Of course, it was Billy. Of course. Things never worked out.</p><p class="p1">At least he seemed surprised to see her. “Mind if I join you?” he asked after a second of eye-contact.</p><p class="p1">“Go right ahead,” she said, because she refused to be a coward.</p><p class="p1">He sat too, across from her at the table, and flipped open his pack of cigarettes. Robin was jumpy. She flinched at the sound of his lighter. Fuck. It was probably too late to say never mind. He probably wouldn’t do anything here with everyone just inside. It looked a lot like he’d figured her out before, and he hadn’t said anything. Robin shifted, the seat cold against her ass. Her hand was shaking, all of a sudden.</p><p class="p1">“What’s your beef with Byers?” he asked after a minute or so.</p><p class="p1">What a way to start. Robin decided to tell the truth - she had no loyalty to Jonathan. “He took creep shots of Nancy,” she said without looking at him. “Before they knew each other, he was perving on her while she was changing. Through a window. So. I don’t think that’s a particularly cool thing to do. She’s forgiven him, but.”</p><p class="p1">“Fuckin’ weirdo.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Robin said with relief. “He sucks.”</p><p class="p1">Billy sort of laughed. Really it was more of a cough. “Then why were you ready to kill me over the guy?” he asked, with a friendly sort of edge.</p><p class="p1">Robin looked over at him, very unamused. She could just feel that her pose was giving her an exquisite double chin. “Dude,” she said, and thought that would be enough. He definitely knew enough to put it together. Come on.</p><p class="p1">“Just a question,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“It wasn’t about him,” she said. “It was about the principle of the thing.” That would do it, right? Surely, that made her point. But Billy just looked at her, tapped his cigarette off on the table without looking. So he was going to make her say it.</p><p class="p1">It wasn’t like Steve, when she knew she wanted to tell him and was terrified to. This was new. Billy could really hurt her, and seriously ruin her life. But now, all of a sudden, she couldn’t live with the uncertainty of what she suspected but didn't know. She had to just do it, say it. She’d never just said it. Maybe she could blurt it out to a stranger.</p><p class="p1">She bit her lip, then opened her mouth and hesitated one last final heartbeat. “I’m gay,” she said, and averted her eyes to avoid his reaction. “But you know that. You’re just making me say it to be a dick.”</p><p class="p1">“Not trying to make you say anything,” Billy said, and she saw him peripherally look away too.</p><p class="p1">Robin, high on the success of coming out now too, glared at him. “Did you hear me?”</p><p class="p1">“I heard you.” </p><p class="p1">“No comment?” she pressed.</p><p class="p1">Billy looked at her. His eyes were dark, hard to really get a read on. “Do you want one?"</p><p class="p1">Honestly, she couldn't tell. It was a surprise to even herself; she never thought she'd want any of his opinions, like ever, but now, sitting here... things just felt different. He was being nice. Unless he was saving the homophobia for later which was a possibility, she had to admit, but. It didn't feel like that.</p><p class="p1">"It's just weird," she said eventually. "That after everything, now you don't have anything to say. No big deal that I just said something out loud for the first time," she continued, slouching back in her chair. "Let's take that in stride. It's not like I took any risks." Okay, so maybe she didn't feel any better having said it. Maybe this was the biggest fucking mistake of her life. A neutral reaction was not a good one. Her leg started bouncing.</p><p class="p1">Billy was totally still on his side of the table. "For the first time," he finally repeated. "Really. Then how does Harrington know?"</p><p class="p1">"There's a lot of ways to say things," Robin said, grumpy. "And I had to tell him, so he wouldn't jump off a cliff when I turned him down." God. It'd be so easy if she could just be in love with Steve. Robin sighed, and looked up into the sky. "Gotta say you're taking this remarkably well."</p><p class="p1">"Compared to who?"</p><p class="p1">Robin shrugged, watching a satellite or something pass across the sky. "I don't know."</p><p class="p1">"Your folks?" he followed up after a second.</p><p class="p1">"They were fine," Robin said. "I told them ages ago, it wasn't a big deal. I meant other people." She crushed what was left of the joint - not much - into the ashtray and then folded her hands in her lap. "Compared to the general... Hawkins status quo," she finally said. "I guess."</p><p class="p1">"Good thing I'm not from Hawkins."</p><p class="p1">Now that was a good point. Robin looked over at him, her neck cracking loudly. He was already looking at her. "Ow," she said, and then, "oh, right. California." Billy nodded. “Interesting.” It was, sort of vaguely, but y’know what it wasn’t? Any sort of security for her. This insistence from him on not saying the most important things. Hatred rekindled in her heart, a glowing ember, and Robin began thinking of things to say to destroy him and wasn’t making a ton of progress when Billy spoke up instead.</p><p class="p1">“The shit you said about wanting to die,” he began, speaking slow and deliberate. “That just to make me feel bad?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” she scoffed. “Why would I try to guilt trip you? I don’t even like you. And I have no evidence it would work.“</p><p class="p1">“Right,” Billy said. “You’re a brain.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m a woman,” Robin corrected him firmly. “And an intelligent one at that.”</p><p class="p1">He laughed at her, but not meanly. “You’re a trip,” he said firmly. “You need evidence to try a guilt somebody?”</p><p class="p1">“I need evidence in general,” Robin said. “Facts. I make fact-based decisions.”</p><p class="p1">“Sure,” Billy agreed. “You rationally deciphered a secret code from Russians at a mall.”</p><p class="p1">Robin sighed. “That… made more sense in context. I cracked a code nobody else could, that’s what I did. It was actually extremely rational, I connected the dots.”</p><p class="p1">“Did you now.”</p><p class="p1">“Who told you about that, anyways?” she asked after a moment. “I know you were busy being possessed.”</p><p class="p1">“Steve,” he said. Interesting - a first-name basis now. “Filled me in on that whole side of things. Can't shut up about you."</p><p class="p1">Robin let out a despairing sort of half-laugh. "Yeah," she said. "He's great." Sort of as a joke, she slid further down in her chair, and then decided to lie flat on the patio instead. It was cold but dry concrete, and that was fine. "Steve's amazing," she said from there. "And funny and loyal as fuck, and he's the dumbest man alive sometimes, but. That's the appeal, isn't it."</p><p class="p1">"Is that what it is?"</p><p class="p1">That got her to actually laugh. Okay, so Billy was funny in a dry kind of way, when he wanted to be. "Yeah, I think that's most of it," she said. "At least for me. And to answer your question, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. That's actually just the truth. And a major downer. Part of why I really hate the way I went about this whole thing - I never should've said anything like that. So."</p><p class="p1">Maybe it was like, karma or something that she kept making herself look like an idiot in front of him. Girls thought he was hot, she was vaguely aware of that, but that wasn't what was making her stupid. It was something else, outside of words. Even when she hated him - and like, since when did that become past tense in her mind, y'know? But it had, and even when it had been present tense, she'd felt this kind of well-worn path between them, a rut that let her spill too many of her feelings towards him too quickly. She didn't know him well enough, she didn't like him hardly at all, and she was definitely not interested in his opinion. But still. There was something.</p><p class="p1">They sat out there so long Billy lit a second cigarette. Robin wondered if he was keeping her company. She wasn't particularly inclined to head back in, not when the sky was so velvety above her, the air just on the right side of crisp. "Hey," she said when she thought of it. "Are you moving back home, ever?"</p><p class="p1">"No."</p><p class="p1">"You're just a Wheeler now?"</p><p class="p1">Billy was silent for a moment. "I'm... I don't know," he said uneasily. "No. I'm not a Wheeler, but I'm not going back either."</p><p class="p1">"Because you like it so well here?"</p><p class="p1">"Because my old man won't let me, for starters," Billy said, an edge in his voice. "Is that a good enough reason for you?"</p><p class="p1">Robin shrugged, which hurt her shoulders against the concrete. "Don't get like that," she said. "It doesn't have to be good enough, I'm just trying to be friendly."</p><p class="p1">"By asking invasive fucking questions?"</p><p class="p1">"Oh, I'm sorry, you're right, this has been such a light conversation until now," Robin snapped back.</p><p class="p1">On his side of the table, there was a bit of a disturbance that turned out to be him standing and coming around to her side. He dragged the chair she used to be sitting in a little bit away from her to sit in it. "Fucking ridiculous to be over there," he said to her. "Like I'm talking to a ghost."</p><p class="p1">"Right. That's the bridge too far," Robin said, half to herself.</p><p class="p1">"You don't know my dad kicked me out?" he asked her. "Really?"</p><p class="p1">"It may surprise you to learn," she said, returning her attention to the stars, "that I haven't been spending a ton of time thinking about you."</p><p class="p1">He snorted. "Could've fooled me."</p><p class="p1">Harsh but fair. "Why'd he kick you out?" she asked. "The whole thing where you liquefied the whole town, was that it?"</p><p class="p1">"I think he's more pissed about the medical bills and arrest, but. Basically."</p><p class="p1">Robin frowned, and looked up at him, upside down. Okay so she wasn't totally sure what she was looking at. "Why'd Hopper arrest you?"</p><p class="p1">Billy shrugged. "Dunno. He dropped it a couple weeks after."</p><p class="p1">Interesting. Robin folded her hands over her stomach and crossed her ankles. It was cold. She was considering admitting defeat with this whole floor thing. "Are you going to college?" she asked.</p><p class="p1">"Right," he scoffed. "Good one."</p><p class="p1">"Then what are you doing after June? Like are you just staying here? Are you hitchhiking back to California or something?"</p><p class="p1">"Don't know. Why don't you just figure it out for me?" he added meanly. But now Robin was feeling fully on the other side of her hatred, the side where she decided not hating him when she had every reason to felt a lot better and more righteous. It felt wonderful, to hear him be such a loser and to decide she wasn't fazed by him.</p><p class="p1">"I'll think about it," she said airily.</p><p class="p1">Billy didn't have a snappy remark to make about that, apparently. He was quiet for a while longer. "I'm not leaving Max," he said eventually, his voice low. And that's when Robin decided to like him, but only sometimes.</p><p class="p1">They went back inside eventually, when Robin was too cold to pretend anymore. Billy followed her, sat next to her on the couch, kept silent while she and Steve discussed the most recent absolute insanity that happened at work. And she remembered how much she'd hated him for being a person, just a person, but she also sort of saw how that was the reason he should get another shot at this whole 'being a decent human being' thing.</p><p class="p1">He was different, at least, after that. At school, he nodded at her in the halls, which was shocking. Somehow the flutes had discovered this, which, that was fine, probably. Robin didn't often worry about what the flutes were gossiping about. She was in the saxophone section this year anyways, so they were several rows away. At least with everybody whispering about her and Billy, nobody noticed how Robin was kind of totally obsessed with Michelle Rawlins, who played french horn.</p><p class="p1">But of course, things snowballed from there. Nancy and Jonathan were the kind of nerds who didn't totally zone out their senior year, so Robin saw them every day. It was a real struggle not to be totally in love with Nancy, but Robin was doing her best. Giving it a real college try, as her dad would put it. They'd started sitting together at lunch since Christmas, the two of them and Jonathan, when he wasn't in the darkroom. He was in the dark room a lot. So Robin and Nancy hung out all the time now, most days, and Nancy was basically Robin's best female friend. Robin loved it, like a beautiful wild bird or something super crazy like that where she was afraid she could love it too much and kill it. It was almost a relief when Jonathan was around, because then Robin could calm down. Jonathan loved Nancy too, equally as much, and the resentment that sparked got Robin back down to earth. It did make Jonathan a lot more relatable, though, so the list of people Robin comfortably despised was a lot shorter.</p><p class="p1">"That's progress," Steve said after she relayed this whole thought process to him. Family Video was dead, tonight, a Wednesday, so they were 'organizing' the shelves but really just talking shit near the back of the store.</p><p class="p1">“How is it progress?” Robin sighed.</p><p class="p1">“Hating people isn’t a life goal, right?” Steve said, and it was clear he really meant it. He was so nice sometimes. “It’s good to hate people a little less.”</p><p class="p1">Robin wrinkled up her nose. “I guess.”</p><p class="p1">“What, you wish you still wanted him dead?”</p><p class="p1">“Kind of,” Robin said, but she was mostly joking. “No, I guess I just… want to care a little less.”</p><p class="p1">Steve made an ugly face. “Boy. That’s a little close to home.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, well.”</p><p class="p1">“I see your point,” he said after a second, but he was lying his ass off. Steve loved to care about people, in a totally whole-hearted way. “But wouldn’t you rather have them on your side?”</p><p class="p1">Robin frowned at him. “Just because I don’t hate them doesn’t make them on my side.”</p><p class="p1">“That’s kind of insane,” Steve frowned back. “They like you.”</p><p class="p1">“Do they?” Robin said, attempting to sound light and probably failing. That was sort of the root of the thing, she thought. The reason it was easier to hate than like someone. Because if she liked someone, that just gave them the chance to not like her back.</p><p class="p1">“Totally,” Steve said definitively. “Just give them a chance. I’m going to have just us over, the older ones. We’re going to have a great dinner thing, and you are absolutely going to be the life of the party once I get you to loosen up and have fun.”</p><p class="p1">Reluctantly, Robin gave him a grumpy kind of look. “I can’t stop you,” she said. And maybe, secretly, she didn’t want to.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Jonathan had never made a friend on purpose. It just kind of happened, and so far he'd been lucky about who it had happened with. Nancy was perfect, and Steve was so awesome, and that was enough. Sometimes it was more than Jonathan could handle, especially as he recovered from being thrown around a hospital. Nancy wouldn't leave his side, and that was great for like two days and then Jonathan wanted to be alone so badly he sort of snapped at her. And, as soon as he could walk a step without needing to catch his breath, he got Steve to take him to the garage his car was at.</p><p class="p1">What was left of his car, at least. And that wasn't much. It was basically totaled. But Jonathan knew his mom didn't have the money to buy a new one, and he also knew the mechanic, Russ, had a soft spot for the Byers family and would help him find parts. So Jonathan began the extremely slow process of fixing it, one piece at a time.</p><p class="p1">It got easier as he healed. The frame was fine, he was relieved to find, and his tires were intact except for the front left one. It would be fine. He hammered out some of the dents one of the unseasonably warm days in February. He fixed one of the windows, and put new glass in. He began the long process of completely replacing the transmission, which was shot as it was. There was a lot to do, and he got to do it all alone, because Nancy was busy at the paper as their only reporter now so she didn't feel left out or anything.</p><p class="p1">And then, Billy started showing up. His car was also there. It was in worse shape than Jonathan's, but Jonathan couldn't really bring himself to care. He didn't care about most things these days, and he knew Mom was worried about it and Nancy even more. That's part of why he was avoiding them both. He hadn't really factored in someone following him to the garage, and had never considered for a second that it would be Billy.</p><p class="p1">It was kind of Nancy's fault. One time she picked Jonathan up to take him to the junkyard and Billy was with her, sitting in the back seat and looking out the window. "He's got to get some parts too," she said.</p><p class="p1">It was Nancy's car. It's not like he could tell her no. "Okay," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">Usually, Billy was pretty quiet. This time, he talked. "You go junking a lot?" he asked. Probably mostly Jonathan, but Nancy answered.</p><p class="p1">"Not a lot," she said, which wasn't true.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Jonathan said. "All the time." He could feel the look Nancy was giving him, but couldn't make himself be sorry.</p><p class="p1">"I dunno who to believe," Billy said after a second. Sounded like he was smiling.</p><p class="p1">"A lot is a subjective term," Nancy grumbled, half to herself, and made an aggressive left turn. "How's the car going?" she asked Jonathan.</p><p class="p1">He shrugged. "Fine."</p><p class="p1">"Do you think it'll be running soon?"</p><p class="p1">There was no way, unless soon meant like three more months. Jonathan didn't know how to answer that, so he just shrugged again.</p><p class="p1">"I doubt it," Billy said. "Seeing how I basically destroyed it. Thing's probably totaled."</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Jonathan said. "That's why it's hard." And nobody had much to say after that.</p><p class="p1">Nancy wasn't exactly comfortable here. She always thought she'd get tetanus, which Jonathan thought was a little silly. But she still walked around with him, and helped him carry things - very gingerly - because she was Nancy, and she never stopped when something just scared her. Just thinking about everything she did made Jonathan exhausted.</p><p class="p1">Billy tagged along too, and got some stuff. Jonathan didn't pay much attention to that. The guy seemed to know what he was looking for, and didn't ask for help or anything. And then when Nancy dropped Jonathan off at the garage with all his parts, Billy got out too, with his.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan just put his head down, and started replacing a headlight. Billy got to work too, but loudly. The thing was, his frame was definitely ruined. He'd have to basically weld on a new entire front, and that was something Jonathan knew he couldn't do and doubted Billy could either. But whatever. Let him try. Jonathan finished the headlight and moved to taillight, and was basically sitting in the trunk when Billy decided to talk.</p><p class="p1">"So you're a mechanic," Billy said.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan didn't look up. "Not really," he said.</p><p class="p1">"So you're just fucking around?" Billy said after a second.</p><p class="p1">"Yep."</p><p class="p1">Billy just looked at him, Jonathan could feel his eyes even though he refused to look up. "You got a problem with me?" he demanded after a second.</p><p class="p1">"No," Jonathan answered. "I'm busy." What he could really use was a third hand, to steady the light as he fit the casing over it and held the wires out of the way, but he managed to get it in the end. Billy lost interest, or whatever, and went back to working on his own car. But only for a little while. He came back a little while later, while Jonathan was dismantling another door, and sat in the empty doorway of Jonathan's car.</p><p class="p1">"Need any help?" Billy asked.</p><p class="p1">"Don't you have your own shit to do?" Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">"That thing's not coming back," Billy said. Jonathan looked at him then, sort of surprised, and Billy grinned but he wasn't happy at all. "Ruined," he said. "Not worth it."</p><p class="p1">That was just the truth. "Okay," Jonathan said, and got back to work with his screwdriver.</p><p class="p1">"So," Billy said after a second. "Need any help?"</p><p class="p1">"I'm good," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">Despite that, despite not having anything to work on, Billy kept showing up, or tagging along when Nancy dropped them off. Jonathan didn't ask for help or really have any easy openings, but Billy made his own. He'd just pick something totally different from what Jonathan was doing and start working on it, and he knew what he was doing so Jonathan didn't try to make him stop. Let the guy help out. It just meant Jonathan would have a car sooner.</p><p class="p1">It was fine for like a week or so. And then Billy decided to try and talk, like really make an effort. He was worse than Nancy when he put his mind to it, persistent and annoying, and worse because he didn't talk aimlessly like Nancy did. He just had pointed questions every once in a while, ones Jonathan couldn't ignore or pretend not to hear, and so they ended up talking a little bit, as they worked.</p><p class="p1">Then Billy wanted to get personal. "Where's your dad?" he asked one day. The weather was closer to summer, bright sun and dry chill. They were both leaning over the engine, and Jonathan was trying to figure out exactly how much else was fucked up in here.</p><p class="p1">"I don't know," Jonathan said. "Why?"</p><p class="p1">"You don't talk to him?"</p><p class="p1">"Nope."</p><p class="p1">"Why?"</p><p class="p1">Things were broken off and bent, which made it hard to see what exactly was where. Jonathan stuck his hand in deep, feeling for debris to pull out. "Why don't you talk to your dad?" he said.</p><p class="p1">"Because he beat the shit out of me."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan snorted. "Yeah, well," he said, and got distracted as his fingers brushed something sharp. Gingerly, he tried to pick it up. "After Mom threw him out, we haven't really seen him," he said, only half thinking about it. "That's made things simple."</p><p class="p1">"He doesn't come back?"</p><p class="p1">"He tried, when Will was missing. Like we're supposed to believe he actually cared." Jonathan extracted his hand with a shard of metal, tossed it to the side and went back in.</p><p class="p1">Billy was quiet for a second, and then kept prying. "What's he like?"</p><p class="p1">"I dunno. You'd probably like him."</p><p class="p1">"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Billy sort of snapped.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan met his eyes and shrugged. "You both agree I'm a fag," he said flatly. "So y'know. Some common ground."</p><p class="p1">Billy didn't like that. He screwed his mouth up, and clenched his jaw, and took a deep breath through his nose. It was kind of cool, Jonathan had to admit, that Billy was obviously trying to keep a lid on it. Better than punching him in the face - though, something about being punched was kind of tempting. "Fuck off," Billy said, like he couldn't help himself.</p><p class="p1">"You asked," Jonathan shrugged, and then cut his hand. "Shit." He pulled his hand out and found it already dripping with blood. The cut was on his palm, by his fingers, more than an inch long.</p><p class="p1">"You had a tetanus shot?" Billy asked, and pulled out a bandana to wrap around Jonathan's hand.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Jonathan said. "I'll be fine." Fuck. It hurt. "What did I cut it on?"</p><p class="p1">Billy physically moved him away from the car by the shoulders. "I swear to God, if you stick your hand back in there I'll let you bleed to death," he said in exasperation, and then then wiggled his own hand in. After a second, he pulled it back out with a big piece of glass held between two fingers. "We need a flashlight," he said.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan pressed down hard on the bandana, squeezed his hand inside of it and breathed through the pain. Then he had a peek. It was a clean cut, not that bad. He wrapped it back up, closing his hand into a loose fist over the ends. He couldn't really get anything else done like this, so they left for the day. They had a long walk back to Jonathan's or a longer one to Nancy's. Today, like a lot of days, Billy went home with Jonathan and called Nancy once he was there. She'd be over at some point, and could take him back. Jonathan had stopped thinking much about it; he left Billy in the kitchen on the phone to go clean his hand. Mom wasn't home yet, and Will wasn't either. The house was quiet.</p><p class="p1">"Your hand okay?" Billy asked from the bathroom doorway. Jonathan hadn't heard him coming.</p><p class="p1">"Fine," Jonathan said. It was covered in taped-down gauze now. He handed Billy back his bloodstained bandana. "Thanks," he added.</p><p class="p1">"Sure." Billy stayed where he was, which probably meant there was something else he wanted to say. Honestly, this was just tiring. Jonathan wanted to go to bed. "Your brother," Billy finally said.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan frowned. "What about him?"</p><p class="p1">"He have a girlfriend?"</p><p class="p1">"He's thirteen," Jonathan said shortly.</p><p class="p1">"His friends all do."</p><p class="p1">"You know, working on my car doesn't give you permission to say shit about my family," Jonathan said, and again, he felt himself sort of itching for a fight. Something he could really wrap his hands around.</p><p class="p1">"I'm not, I'm just asking," Billy said, still looking at him. There was almost a weight to his gaze, it was heavy. "Is he catching any shit at school?"</p><p class="p1">"I can't be around every second," Jonathan began.</p><p class="p1">Billy cut him off. "I'm not graduating this year," he said. "There's no way. I'll be around more than you will. So. I'm just asking," he repeated, slower.</p><p class="p1">Huh. That was something Jonathan hadn't expected. He had to take a second and actually think about that, the offer Billy just gave him. At last, he led Billy out to the kitchen to get something to eat. "If you want to look after my kid brother, I'm not gonna stop you. I don't know what you want me to say." As he talked, he got out some leftover chili, and got out forks.</p><p class="p1">"I don't want you to say anything," Billy said, and accepted a fork from Jonathan.</p><p class="p1">"If you say you're just asking again, I'm kicking you out." Jonathan took a bite, and set the tupperware on the counter. Billy went in too, and they took a second to eat. "Will's a special kid," Jonathan finally said. "Like really."</p><p class="p1">Billy nodded, chewing at the moment.</p><p class="p1">"If I ever find out you've said anything to him like the shit you've said to me," Jonathan began.</p><p class="p1">"I won't," Billy said with an edge to his voice.</p><p class="p1">"Good," Jonathan said, and had another bite. He needed to get started on his pre-calc homework at some point. Mom would probably need his help today and tomorrow with dinner, Hopper was busy with a case and the gang would all be over this weekend. Nancy's parents were arguing a lot, and had stopped hosting for a while. Which was fine, but things were loud a lot, and Jonathan hadn't had a second to himself for three weeks.</p><p class="p1">"Sorry," Billy said.</p><p class="p1">"What?"</p><p class="p1">Billy frowned at him. "What do you mean, what?"</p><p class="p1">"I wasn't listening," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">"I said I'm sorry," Billy repeated, testily, and tossed his fork into a cup in the sink. "Take it or leave it."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan wasn't particularly interested in either option. "Okay. I've got to study. You can watch TV or something, until Nancy's coming."</p><p class="p1">"She won't be here till late," Billy said.</p><p class="p1">Whatever. Jonathan went to his room. Annoyingly, Billy followed. As was his habit, he wasn't quite annoying enough for Jonathan to tell him to leave. He put on an old Talking Heads album while Jonathan found his textbook, and then planted himself on Jonathan's bed. That was fine; Jonathan was using his desk. And when he looked back after a couple minutes, Billy was asleep. So Jonathan finally got a second to himself.</p><p class="p1">It wasn't Nancy who showed up, but Steve. He let himself in and came back to Jonathan's room and leaned in the door. "Hey," he said.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan looked up for a second, because he knew Steve wanted him to. "Hi," he said.</p><p class="p1">That was all the encouragement Steve needed. "Running a little late, Robin left her sax in the band room yesterday so we had to find a janitor to unlock it."</p><p class="p1">"That's fine."</p><p class="p1">"I know you like your time alone to recharge."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan shrugged. "It's really okay." Steve didn't say anything, he just nodded, so Jonathan looked back down at his paper, and started on the next question.</p><p class="p1">Steve came closer, and sat on the corner of Jonathan's desk, looking at him in a way that was palpable. "You know, you seem pretty close with him," he said quietly.</p><p class="p1">"Who?" Jonathan didn't raise his eyes.</p><p class="p1">"Who? What do you mean who, the guy your bed right now."</p><p class="p1">Oh. Jonathan looked up at Steve, and then over at Billy. "He's just napping," he said. "Waiting for you."</p><p class="p1">"God, dude," Steve said, in a friendly way. "You're so clueless."</p><p class="p1">"I have a lot of homework," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">"Well," Steve said. "That's not super... relevant." His positivity was beginning to fade. "Do you really not think..."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan cut him off. "I don't really think about it at all," he said. "I'm tired. And in case you didn't notice, we kind of have bigger things going on, so."</p><p class="p1">"We did," Steve agreed. "But we don't now." He put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "We can relax. Get out of survival mode."</p><p class="p1">Maybe he could. "Okay," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">The front door opened and slammed shut, and Robin skidded into the doorway. "Hey," she said. "What's going on? Is he dead or something?"</p><p class="p1">"I'm visiting with my friends," Steve said. "Is that okay with you?"</p><p class="p1">Robin shrugged. "Hey dude," she said to Jonathan. "You coming tonight?"</p><p class="p1">Shit. Jonathan had forgotten about tonight. Steve had invited him to a dinner at Steve's house, with Nancy and Billy and Robin. "Yes," he said.</p><p class="p1">"You forgot," Steve surmised.</p><p class="p1">"No," Jonathan said. "I'll be ready in a second, if... can I just finish this?"</p><p class="p1">"Sure," Steve said amicably, and stayed where he was.</p><p class="p1">Robin went over to Steve's bed, and out of his peripherals Jonathan saw her poke Billy awake. "Hey," she said. "Don't have a cow, it's me."</p><p class="p1">"What a way to wake up," he heard Billy mutter.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah, you're a lucky man. Move over."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan finished his homework as fast as he could - it was mostly right, at least - and turned around. Robin and Billy were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in bed, not talking to each other. Weird. "Ready to go?" Jonathan said to them.</p><p class="p1">"You bet," Billy said. Robin didn't say anything, but that was an improvement from how they acted before.</p><p class="p1">Steve drove. Robin and Billy sat in the back, so Jonathan was riding shotgun. "How's the car?" Robin said, but she wasn't talking to Jonathan.</p><p class="p1">"Slightly less fucked," Billy said. "How's geek central?"</p><p class="p1">"Call it band practice or I'm not telling you."</p><p class="p1">"Band practice, whatever," Billy said. "Still full of geek.”</p><p class="p1">"It was productive," Robin said. "Though, I must admit that the drums couldn't recognize a tempo of 120 if it hit them in the face, so that threw things off because God knows the trumpets won't play faster than they absolutely have to."</p><p class="p1">Steve looked in his rear view mirror. "Hold on," he said. "Are you guys actually exchanging pleasant conversation about extracurriculars?"</p><p class="p1">"Shut up," Robin said.</p><p class="p1">"Mind your own business, Harrington," Billy echoed.</p><p class="p1">"And now they're turning on me," Steve said to Jonathan.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan didn't know what to say, so he just made a sound he thought would be sympathetic.</p><p class="p1">Steve's house was empty as usual, dark and tall. The first thing Steve did was go all around switching on lights, and then put the stereo on. "Okay," he said. "Nancy should be here soon, but we should get dinner going without her. Who wants what to drink? I've got beer, vodka, whiskey, wine-"</p><p class="p1">"Whiskey," Robin and Billy said in unison.</p><p class="p1">Steve sighed about that, but he poured them two glasses. Then he asked Jonathan. "What about you?"</p><p class="p1">"Uh, a beer is fine," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">The worst thing about Steve was how much he took care of people. Usually Jonathan could be busy with that, which meant he didn't have to think about anything else. With Steve around, there was nothing but time. Jonathan sat, and watched Robin and Billy be aware of each other but say nothing, and he wondered how long it would be before everyone didn't need him anymore and left.</p><p class="p1">"Hey," Steve said to Jonathan. "How's the car?"</p><p class="p1">"Coming along," Jonathan said.</p><p class="p1">"You need any help?"</p><p class="p1">Jonathan shook his head. "Billy's helping." He had a sip of his beer, and then realized Steve was weirdly quiet, so he looked over and found Steve staring at him. "What?"</p><p class="p1">"He's helping you fix your car," Steve said, like the concept was hard to grasp.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah."</p><p class="p1">"Is that news?" Robin said. "Because I was also aware of that."</p><p class="p1">"I thought he was fixing his own car," Steve said.</p><p class="p1">Nancy came in while he was talking. "What's going on?" she asked, and gave everybody a hug hello. "Sorry I'm late."</p><p class="p1">"Did you know Billy was helping Jonathan fix his car?" Steve demanded, hands on hips.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah," Nancy said, glancing at Billy. "Did you not?"</p><p class="p1">"Nobody filled me in, I guess." Steve looked kind of sad about it. He turned to Billy. "So what about your ride?"</p><p class="p1">"Totaled," Billy said. "Catch up, Harrington."</p><p class="p1">"Seriously, dingus," Robin added.</p><p class="p1">Steve gestured at them dramatically and said to Nancy, "This is what I've been dealing with. They've reached some sort of weird alliance, what's this all about?"</p><p class="p1">Nancy made a face that meant she thought she should hold her tongue, which, Jonathan knew meant she'd crack in about five seconds. This time, though, she didn't. "I'm just glad we're all getting along," she said. "There's no one else in the world who understands what we've been through."</p><p class="p1">"Right," Jonathan said. "Billy almost killed El and we were almost killed by the guys from the paper. Totally comparable."</p><p class="p1">It took a minute for him to realize the room's reaction to that was kind of frosty. Steve was mostly ignoring him, Nancy seemed shocked speechless, and Billy was looking deep into his glass. Robin was the one who spoke up first. "Yeah, but we're over that," she said. "Old news."</p><p class="p1">Jonathan shrugged. "Who's not over it?"</p><p class="p1">"Bringing it up would seem to imply you," Nancy said.</p><p class="p1">"No, I don't care, it's just a fact."</p><p class="p1">Steve looked at Robin, a meaningful kind of look. "It's a fact you're choosing to bring up," Robin said, and Nancy nodded. "So that means you care a little bit."</p><p class="p1">"I really, really don't," Jonathan said. But nobody believed him. “I don’t have the time to care. There’s kind of a lot going on, if you hadn’t noticed.”</p><p class="p1">“Not recently,” Steve said.</p><p class="p1">That was hard to argue against. Jonathan tried anyways. “I’m serious,” he said. “I don’t have the mental space to care about this. I’m tired, I’m trying to graduate on time, I’m trying to take care of Mom and Will, and I have to fix my car in order to get enough of a job to be able to do anything in the fall. I don’t give a shit about anything outside of that.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy put her hand on his arm. “Jonathan, why didn’t you say anything sooner?”</p><p class="p1">This was unbearable, that’s why. “Because it’s not your problem,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“I refuse to accept that,” Steve proclaimed after a second. “Your problems are our problems. That’s kind of the whole point. Of being friends and everything.”</p><p class="p1">“Totally,” Robin said quietly.</p><p class="p1">“Since when are we friends?” Jonathan asked her.</p><p class="p1">“Since right now, dipshit,” Robin said. “Like Nancy said, nobody knows what we’ve done except us. That counts for something.” And next to her Billy nodded.</p><p class="p1">It sounded really nice, too good to be true. Jonathan shifted, had a sip of his beer and avoided looking at anyone. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I think you’d all probably be better off without me.”</p><p class="p1">The reaction to that kind of sucked more than everything else. Everyone was being so nice that Jonathan almost wanted to melt into the ground. The worst part was how everybody clearly meant it. None of them were the type to just say things. They were all being nice and the only explanation that made sense was that they’d been telling the truth. And they liked him. It was kind of awful.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The ride home was quiet. Nancy was glad, she was tired. It had been a long week. And now there was this whole Jonathan to worry about, which honestly she hadn’t seen coming. That was the most concerning thing of all, that it had blindsided her like this when she had spent so much time and energy trying to keep anything from ever doing that again.</p><p class="p1">They parked and got out still in silence, which meant Nancy heard her parents arguing loudly as she stepped onto the front porch. “Oh good,” she said, and Billy opened the door for her.</p><p class="p1">It was the same argument as usual. Nancy heard her mom say something about Dad being checked out, heard Dad tell Mom she was asking too much. Nancy just took her shoes off and went upstairs, with Billy following. Mike was gone tonight, at a sleepover at Dustin’s, so it was just the two of them. </p><p class="p1">Nancy went straight to her room and flopped down onto her bed, face first. Then after a second, she felt Billy sit on the other side. “Jonathan?” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Nancy said. “Who could’ve seen that coming? God!” She turned with great effort onto her back, and Billy lay down next to her, folding his hands over his stomach. “I mean, I knew he was being quiet because he didn’t want to say something, but. I had no idea it would be that.”</p><p class="p1">“How could you? He’s locked up tight,” Billy said, looking at the ceiling. It was possible he was drunk. Nancy hadn’t counted how much everyone had to drink, but Robin and him had had the most, since she was staying with Steve and Billy wasn’t driving.</p><p class="p1">“Did he say anything about feeling like this?” Nancy asked after a second.</p><p class="p1">“He doesn’t talk to me.”</p><p class="p1">“Right.” Nancy always sort of forgot that nobody else had the benefit of living with Billy and getting to know him. Their suspicion always surprised her. Well, now Robin seemed to have come around. And speaking of which, “So you and Robin.”</p><p class="p1">Billy looked over at her, and after a second he couldn’t help a small smile. “Yeah,” he said. “What about it?”</p><p class="p1">“You’re friends now? Or what’s going on there? Such a development,” she added, teasing.</p><p class="p1">He’d played it very cool at Steve’s, but now he couldn’t really hide that he was actually particularly happy about this. Though, he never really smiled without fighting it, and that didn’t change now. “Guess she likes me,” he said casually.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, since when?” Nancy said.</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t answer that right away. He took a while to say anything at all, actually. Nancy enjoyed the moment to breathe, and pulled her feet up onto the bed to take her socks off. Then she wiggled her toes. “Since we got to understand each other,” Billy finally said.</p><p class="p1">“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nancy asked, and Billy just shrugged.</p><p class="p1">“We’re good,” he said. “That’s all it means. And I’d rather have her on my side.”</p><p class="p1">“You’re telling me,” Nancy said with feeling. “I’m glad that’s ironed out.”</p><p class="p1">“You can’t have everyone love everyone, y’know,” Billy said. “Thing’s don’t work like that.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy scoffed. “What do you know about how things work,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“A hell of a lot,” Billy answered, firm. He was one of the only people in her life who got firm with her like this. She didn’t expect to like it, but somehow something about him made her feel comfortable with it.</p><p class="p1">“Well,” Nancy finally said. “I can try.”</p><p class="p1">“And nothing can stop you,” Billy said, teasing her almost but he also totally meant it. Sometimes, when he said things like that, it almost sounded like he loved her. And usually Nancy kept a better lid on it, but now they were already talking and so she just asked him.</p><p class="p1">“Well. You love me, don’t you?”</p><p class="p1">For a few seconds, her heart was in her mouth while she waited. She thought he might not answer. Then he sighed. “Of course I do, Nance, but what’s that got to do with anything?”</p><p class="p1">She was satisfied for a moment. “It’s somewhere to start,” she finally said. “Besides. I think your outlook is too gloomy, and I don’t intend to live that way.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh, you don’t.”</p><p class="p1">“No, I don’t.”</p><p class="p1">“Then what are you going to do?”</p><p class="p1">“I’m going to remain positive,” Nancy said. “I’m going to have another drink.” She sat up, and Billy got up with her. “You want one?” she asked.</p><p class="p1">“No,” he said, but he came with her when she made her way downstairs. She noticed him doing this, taking care of her like this, and couldn’t work out why she didn’t find it condescending. When he followed her around and watched her do things. He did it quite a bit. But tonight she knew what it was. She saw how he looked up when Dad raised his voice, and just knew.</p><p class="p1">She took her drink out onto the back porch so he could smoke while she drank. They sat next to each other in patio chairs, and looked out at the yard. “They’re going to get divorced,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“Sounds like it,” he said without much concern.</p><p class="p1">“I hope Mom keeps the house.”</p><p class="p1">“You think he’ll let her?”</p><p class="p1">Nancy shrugged, and then added, “I think if he won’t, I’ll get involved.”</p><p class="p1">Billy let out a laugh, and then a cough. “Well, God help him in that case, huh.”</p><p class="p1">It felt good, when he said that. Gratifying. He wasn’t mocking her, that’s what it was. He was saying it because he respected her. “Hey,” she said then. “What about you? Is there something I can help you with?”</p><p class="p1">“What?” he said, sounding bemused.</p><p class="p1">“Can I help you? I want to.”</p><p class="p1">“With what, fucking… homework?”</p><p class="p1">“No. But yes, I’ll help you with your homework, of course,” Nancy added, and Billy rolled his eyes with a deep sigh. “No, though, I mean something real. Y’know?”</p><p class="p1">Billy leaned back more comfortably in his chair. “I can’t say that I do.”</p><p class="p1">“You never ask me for anything,” she said. “You never ask anyone. Hop had to basically force you to stay here, and that was when you had no other options.” Nancy looked over at him, and had to settle for looking at his profile when he refused to look back. “Ask me for something,” she said.</p><p class="p1">Finally, reluctantly, he looked back at her. He had very blue eyes, she could see them even in the dimness. “Why,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Because I like helping,” she said.</p><p class="p1">Nancy could see him not believing her, but Billy answered anyways. “Anything?”</p><p class="p1">“Totally.”</p><p class="p1">“Max,” he said after a second, and then looked away. “I think she’s in trouble.”</p><p class="p1">“In what way?” she frowned.</p><p class="p1">He shrugged.</p><p class="p1">“Like at home?”</p><p class="p1">“I can’t tell. She won’t talk to me.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy nodded, thinking it over. “Well. She hasn’t asked me for any advice. But I know she’s been staying over at the Sinclairs’ house more.” She finished her drink and then folded her hands around the empty glass. “I see,” she said. “Come with me.” She took them both upstairs back to her room and pulled out the walkie talkie Mike left for her. He’d started doing that when he went anywhere, it was very sweet. She wasn’t totally comfortable with the buttons, but she managed.</p><p class="p1">“Hey. Is anyone out here?” she said into it, and waited for a moment.</p><p class="p1">“You’re supposed to say over at the end, over,” Dustin finally answered.</p><p class="p1">Billy snorted. Nancy rolled her eyes and pressed the button down again. “Copy that. Can I talk to my brother? Over.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m here, over,” Mike said after a second, his voice crackling a bit.</p><p class="p1">“I’m coming over. I need to talk to you. Meet me in Dustin’s driveway in ten minutes.” And then she remembered to add, “Over.” Billy smiled at her with his eyes, a sharp thing.</p><p class="p1">“Copy. Over and out,” Mike answered.</p><p class="p1">“Didn’t mean immediately,” Billy said then. “Probably could sleep first.”</p><p class="p1">Nancy wrinkled her nose at him. “I don’t like to waste time,” she said with a bit of a smile. “Come on.”</p><p class="p1">He came with her, and sort of dozed off in the passenger seat. But when they got to the Hendersons’ house, he woke up enough to get out with her and sit on the hood. Not enough to stay upright, though. He lay back, feet hanging over the front fender, and Nancy sat next to him.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t fall asleep,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“I’m not,” he answered too quickly.</p><p class="p1">The front door opened and light spilled out onto the front lawn. It occurred to Nancy then, that she hadn’t told Mike she wanted to talk to just him. She expected to see at least El with him. But it was just Mike in his PJs, skinny arms crossed. He was getting taller. His hair had gone a while without a cut.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” he said with a frown. “What’s going on, is everything okay?”</p><p class="p1">“I’m not sure,” Nancy said, and tapped Billy’s leg. He sat up, propping himself up on one arm, and blinked several times. “He’s very awake,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“I can see that,” Mike said.</p><p class="p1">“Fuck off,” Billy mumbled.</p><p class="p1">“You first.”</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Nancy said, and both of them stopped and looked at her. “I have a serious question. And it will probably mean breaking a confidence, but.” She leaned in and spoke quieter. “Should we be worried about Max?”</p><p class="p1">Mike gave her a look that she couldn’t interpret - a rare weird thing for them. He was her younger brother, she’d known most of what was on his mind for his whole life. But now he was more of a stranger. “Hold on,” he said after a second. “I think we need to include El in this.”</p><p class="p1">That was fascinating. Billy sat all the way up then, and leaned forward. “The hell does that mean?”</p><p class="p1">“Probably exactly what you think,” Mike said. “Actually Will, too.”</p><p class="p1">“Package deal, aren’t they,” Billy said, and fished his lighter out of his jacket pocket. “Does she talk to them?”</p><p class="p1">Mike shook his head. “That’s why they’re worried. Can I just get them?”</p><p class="p1">Nancy nodded, and then Mike looked at Billy. He waited for Billy to nod too, before he went in. That was a little odd, she wasn’t sure when that started happening. Billy didn’t seem to know either, but he nodded and Mike went inside for a second and came back with the other two.</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Mike said. “But we have to go quick, I said you had a question from Joyce that couldn’t wait.”</p><p class="p1">“Good thinking,” Billy said.</p><p class="p1">El and Will glanced at each other, and Nancy saw a kind of understanding pass between them. They were siblings, two of a kind, and Nancy was very glad Mike had them to keep him grounded. “This is about Max?” El asked.</p><p class="p1">“Yes,” Nancy answered. “She’s in a dangerous house and she seems a little off and I’m going to take care of it. So, please. Can you tell me what you know?”</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t think this would work, she could feel it, but he didn’t say anything. And after a second, the kids started talking.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Lucas’ first thought was that there must’ve been some mistake. “Max isn’t here,” he said, looking at Will and then at Robin behind him.</p><p class="p1">“No, I know,” Will said. “She’s in detention, right?”</p><p class="p1">She was. Lucas looked at Robin, and then back at Will. “She’s having a hard time,” Lucas said uneasily. He didn’t know what he could say without betraying her confidence.</p><p class="p1">“That’s kind of what I want to talk about,” Will said. “If you have a second.”</p><p class="p1">Lucas and Will hadn’t talked for a while, not really. Hardly ever one-on-one. But Lucas liked Will perfectly fine, he had no problem with him, so he nodded. “What are you here for?” he asked Robin.</p><p class="p1">“Moral support,” she said. “I’ll be in the car.” And after patting Will on the shoulder, she went back to the car. Steve and Billy were in the car too, which was kind of weird. Lucas frowned at the sight of them; he couldn’t figure out how those three were with Will and Jonathan wasn’t.</p><p class="p1">“Is your brother okay?” Lucas asked, trying to get at it.</p><p class="p1">“He’s fine,” Will said. “But Steve was free.” He was kind of red.</p><p class="p1">“Okay. Well. Do you want to come in?” Lucas asked after a second, and Will did.</p><p class="p1">Lucas really never had the group over here that much. His parents were annoying and strict. They made them be quiet and leave by 9 and eat vegetables. It was never as fun. But Will wasn’t a problem - he was quiet anyways, and took off his shoes without being asked. At least since Will was a guy, Lucas could take him up to his room to talk.</p><p class="p1">“So what’s going on?” Lucas asked when they were in private. He sat on his bed.</p><p class="p1">“Well,” Will said uneasily. He sat gingerly on the other end. “Uh. It’s kind of about Max.”</p><p class="p1">“What about her?”</p><p class="p1">“Okay, so you know Billy’s kind of cool now?” Will asked hopefully. “Or he has been to me. Ever since… y’know.”</p><p class="p1">“Actually, yeah. He kind of is, right?” Lucas said, and Will lit up.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah! Okay. Good. I wasn’t sure. He’s kind of… well, and when he thinks he’s being nice sometimes he is just… not. So.”</p><p class="p1">That made Lucas snort. “Max can be the exact same way. With people she doesn’t know. It’s kind of funny.”</p><p class="p1">Will nodded. “How was it with your family, at first?”</p><p class="p1">“Kind of weird. Mom won’t let Max in here with the door closed, <em>still</em>, even though we don’t want to do anything. And she’s pretty quiet around them. I don’t know.” Lucas shrugged. “But I like having her here.”</p><p class="p1">“Totally,” Will said. And they hadn’t hung out for a while, but Lucas still knew what it looked like when Will had something he wanted to say but just wasn’t saying. It was one of his most frequent looks.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” Lucas said. “What are you actually here about? What’s wrong, did Max say something?”</p><p class="p1">“Well,” Will said. “It’s actually kind of the opposite of that. She’s stopped telling us things. El and me.” Obviously that’s what us meant - Lucas nodded. “And we’re worried because sometimes that can mean, like. That something’s wrong and she doesn’t want to talk about it.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh.”</p><p class="p1">“And I’m, like. Hoping you might… want to tell me if you know anything,” Will finished. “Because… I’m. Really worried.”</p><p class="p1">This was probably the last thing Lucas had expected. “Worried,” he repeated.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Will said. “Does she talk about how it is at home? At all?”</p><p class="p1">“Uh.” There were concerns on a couple levels, here. Lucas had to work through them before he could answer. First, he wasn’t sure if he should tell Will anything. But if he did, it was hard to say what his answer would even be. “Max doesn’t really talk about her parents,” he said, which was the truth.</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Will said.</p><p class="p1">“Do you think that means something?” Lucas asked after a second. Whatever was going on, he was starting to think Will had a better idea of it than he did. Somehow.</p><p class="p1">Will made a pained sort of face, and looked down at his hands. “I think so,” he said without looking up. “I don’t know how much, like.” He looked up. “Do you and her talk about, like. Big things. How you feel?”</p><p class="p1">Lucas nodded after a second.</p><p class="p1">“Me too. And I think we need to… like.” Will started picking at one of his nails. “I never really talked about what it was like when my dad was around,” he finally said. “And I know that Max really likes your family. Because they’re nice.”</p><p class="p1">“They’re weird,” Lucas said. “And strict.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Will said. “But. In a normal way.”</p><p class="p1">It took a second to sink in. “Was your dad, like. Bad?” he asked.</p><p class="p1">“Uh, yeah. Basically.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh. And you think, like.” Lucas felt like his brain was malfunctioning. “She says Billy’s dad doesn’t do anything to her.”</p><p class="p1">“She says he doesn’t touch her,” Will said. “But that’s not everything that could happen.” He finally looked up and made eye contact with Lucas. “You know?”</p><p class="p1">He was starting to. “Okay,” Lucas said, and then repeated it because he didn’t know what to say. “Okay.”</p><p class="p1">“Do you think… should we talk to her?” Will asked, and added, “Would you help?”</p><p class="p1">It was an easy call. “I think so,” Lucas decided. “And I’ll totally help. Is it you and El?”</p><p class="p1">“Not just us,” Will said. He seemed markedly more relaxed now, had a deep breath in and out. “It was Mike, actually, who sort of got us to actually do something. And it’s Nancy and Billy too. We all have noticed her being kind of… different.”</p><p class="p1">“Mike?” Lucas said dubiously.</p><p class="p1">Will laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “I know. But he’s cool again.”</p><p class="p1">“Has Dustin…” Lucas began to ask, but Will shook his head.</p><p class="p1">“He’s busy with Suzie. They talk every night. I sort of asked him at lunch today, but.” He shrugged. “It’s fine.”</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Lucas said, and thought this all over. Another good thing about Will - he was fine with silences, they never felt weird with him. “So why is Steve and Robin and Billy here?” he finally asked.</p><p class="p1">Will flushed a little then. “Jonathan was busy,” he said. “And Billy and Robin are friends now, so they came. And I guess Steve just didn’t have anything better to do.”</p><p class="p1">Huh. Weird. “Since when are they friends?” Lucas asked.</p><p class="p1">“Since Robin screamed at Billy when we were at the station and then they both agreed that Jonathan’s lame,” Will said, then grinned. “And now they can like read each others minds or something.”</p><p class="p1">“Wait, <em>what?</em>” Lucas said loudly.</p><p class="p1">Will’s smile grew. “You’ve been kind of out of the loop, I guess.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, guess so. You want to fill me in?” Lucas asked. And Will was more than happy to, so he stayed a little longer.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It went very well. Will actually felt a little bad about how long he’d made the other three wait; he hurried out to the car from Lucas’ house. “Sorry,” he said, because the windows were open and they could hear him. “Sorry, we kind of lost track of time.”</p><p class="p1">Steve was leaning on the window frame, sunglasses on. “No worries, kiddo,” he said. “The two of them have been having a great time.”</p><p class="p1">“Not you?” Will asked, a little shy, and looked at the other two. They were in the back seat together, slumped against each other in the middle, sharing a joint. Will thought he probably wasn’t supposed to know it was a joint.</p><p class="p1">“Oh, yeah, me too,” Steve said. “That’s not what I meant. How’d it go in there?” He pulled his shades down so he could look at Will over them.</p><p class="p1">“It went good,” Will said after a second. For some reason all of a sudden it was hard to speak. “Uh. So can you take me back home?”</p><p class="p1">“You got it,” Steve nodded. “Nancy called the pizza in at five, so we’ll be set to pick it up on the way. You want to sit up front?”</p><p class="p1">Will really did. He got in quick and shut the door. Robin and Billy hardly budged. “Hey kiddo,” Robin said.</p><p class="p1">“How’s Lucas?” Billy asked. It still wasn’t any less weird, that he would make conversation like this.</p><p class="p1">“He’s good,” Will said. “He had some interesting information.”</p><p class="p1">Billy didn’t push it. He preferred to talk about things in private anyways. Most of the time, he wouldn’t even say anything if someone else was around, so Will knew they’d talk later.</p><p class="p1">Steve started the car then, and looked at everybody before he put it in gear. “We good?” he said.</p><p class="p1">“So good, dude,” Robin said. “Y’know, I think nobody gives the Great Gatsby enough of a chance.”</p><p class="p1">“Nerd,” Billy said definitively.</p><p class="p1">“Hey, a cute one,” Steve said, and they started moving.</p><p class="p1">Steve did that a lot, calling Robin cute or funny, or perfect, but both of them said they weren’t dating and meant it. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to Will. But that was fine. Steve didn’t need to be dating somebody all the time, just because other people dated a lot. Will didn’t want to date anyone. That was fine.</p><p class="p1">“Why are we giving that book a chance?” Billy asked on a sigh, after a long silence.</p><p class="p1">“Because,” Robin said, very excited to get into it. “So nobody really talks about Nick and Jordan enough. They don’t work, as a couple, that is obvious, but it’s more than that.”</p><p class="p1">She talked for a while. Steve was kind of somewhere else, not really listening, but Billy was listening. That was kind of weird. Maybe he liked Robin. That would make some sort of sense.</p><p class="p1">Steve went in for the pizza, while the rest of them stayed here. Will watched him go through the windshield. “That’s part of the charm,” Billy observed to Robin, and Robin laughed.</p><p class="p1">“The boy can wear a jean,” Robin said, agreeing. “We have to give him that. You should see the flirting he endures at work.”</p><p class="p1">Billy snorted. “Wow, he’s so brave.”</p><p class="p1">“Among other things.”</p><p class="p1">Will didn’t exactly understand what was happening here. They were sort of flirting… about Steve. So it definitely was a possibility that Robin and Billy were the ones that liked each other. That made more sense, then. How they were arguing over Steve before but had made up now.</p><p class="p1">“You’re graduating soon,” Billy said after a moment.</p><p class="p1">“Hopefully,” Robin said with half a laugh. “Yeah. And you’re not. Why?”</p><p class="p1">“You sticking around, or what?” It sounded like Billy might be actually nervous, for once.</p><p class="p1">Will looked in the rearview mirror, and saw Robin giving Billy a suspicious kind of look. “I don’t know,” she said. “Why. Do you want me to?”</p><p class="p1">“Come on,” Billy sighed.</p><p class="p1">“Oh, like it would kill you to say it,” Robin snapped, though Will wasn’t really sure why she was mad.</p><p class="p1">Billy seemed to know, though. Like Steve had said, they could totally read each other’s minds now. “I’d like it. Yeah,” he said reluctantly. “Alright? You fucking happy? To make me… fucking… <em>say it</em>, or-”</p><p class="p1">“I’m very happy,” Robin cut him off. Her voice was weird. Another glance in the mirror and Will saw her again, looking at Billy. Her eyes were soft. Then sudden movement; she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, putting her head down on his shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“Ugh, please,” Billy grumbled, but he didn’t move. He let her hold him. After a second, he put his hand over her arm. So Will thought it was probably pretty for sure, that he liked her. Maybe they’d date, Will thought, but the possibility only made him feel kind of disappointed. Why did everybody end up dating?</p><p class="p1">Steve came back then, with three pizzas piled up in his arms. In the backseat, the two of them slid apart, but Will thought Steve probably noticed. Though, Steve slid in the car and handed the pizzas over to Will without remarking on the backseat at all, so maybe it was normal, and Will just wasn’t used to it.</p><p class="p1">Judging by the cars in the driveway, Mom and Hopper were both home. And Nancy was also here - or her car, at least.</p><p class="p1">“Is everyone coming over?” Will asked with a frown.</p><p class="p1">“Nah, I don’t think so,” Steve said. “Just us, y’know. The older ones. And you, I guess. Since you live here.”</p><p class="p1">So El too, then.</p><p class="p1">Will followed the big kids in, watched how Robin and Billy walked totally in sync behind Steve, and thought with dismay about how life seemed to be watching all the coolest people finding people they liked better than you.</p><p class="p1">And then he got inside and found Mike, sitting on El's bed with her. "Nancy brought me," he said to Will. "Because of the Max thing."</p><p class="p1">"Great," Will said, and almost meant it.</p><p class="p1">Joyce and Hopper left pretty soon, for a date night. So Will told everybody while they were eating what Lucas had said. That Max was quiet and didn't want to talk about her parents, and had been staying there five nights a week or more. Lucas had reiterated what Will and El had noticed; Max very specifically said that her mom wouldn't let Neil touch her.</p><p class="p1">Billy made a face at that, one that Nancy mirrored as a question back at him. He just shook his head; he didn't want to talk about it then.</p><p class="p1">"She can stay with us," Mike said. "Right? Nancy, you could share a room with her, your room's bigger than mine."</p><p class="p1">Both of the Wheelers looked at Billy. He just sort of shrugged. "You've got to ask your mom, not me,” he said. “Can’t imagine she’d be thrilled to have both of us there full time, though.”</p><p class="p1">“You’re forgetting,” El said solemnly, “that Max won’t leave her mom. No way.”</p><p class="p1">That was a good point - a really good point, actually. “Then what,” Steve said, his mouth full, “we have to convince her mom to leave too?” Will looked at him longer than normal, looked away quickly when he realized it.</p><p class="p1">“Oh sure,” Billy said sarcastically. “That’ll be easy. Not like he fucking hits her and she’s staying through that.”</p><p class="p1">“Does he?” Robin asked. “I wasn’t sure we knew that.”</p><p class="p1">Billy just made a face, and one that Will thought probably meant he didn’t want to think about it. “I’m not there, how would I know,” he said, suddenly testy.</p><p class="p1">Robin made a face too, a sympathetic one, and rubbed Billy’s shoulder. He didn’t react. Around the circle, everybody seemed pretty worried, though. Will and El had been concerned on their own, yeah, but it was a lot different to see the older kids feeling that way too. Billy, too. Will didn’t think about Billy being scared of things really at all, but that’s definitely what was happening here. And Will made eye contact with El, and then Mike, and the three of them knew - they should be afraid for Max, too.</p><p class="p1">After dinner, everybody kind of split up. Billy and Jonathan went out back to smoke, though Jonathan hadn’t told Mom he’d started smoking again so Will hoped he’d be careful. Nancy and Steve were talking about something, and Mike and El were leaning close together talking in hushed tones. So Will followed Robin to the kitchen, and helped her do the dishes.</p><p class="p1">“Thanks, kid,” she said. “You don’t have to help, though, I’ve got this.”</p><p class="p1">“I want to help,” Will promised, so she moved over at the sink. He rinsed after she washed, and then dried and put things away too. Robin didn’t quite know where everything went.</p><p class="p1">“It was pretty cool of you, y’know,” she said once they were in a rhythm. “To talk to Lucas. It couldn’t have been easy.”</p><p class="p1">Will nodded, agreeing. “No,” he said. “But we had to know. Billy seems really worried.”</p><p class="p1">“Billy,” Robin sighed.</p><p class="p1">“Oh right, you like him,” Will said.</p><p class="p1">Robin made the absolute most surprised face he’d seen on a person, like dramatically surprised and sort of snorted. “I don’t <em>like</em> him,” she said. “We’re friends.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh,” Will said.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah. I’m not… I will not be dating any of the guys. Ever,” she said, and emphatically rinsed a fork.</p><p class="p1">“Okay.” Will hesitated, his heart in his mouth. “Well, that’s cool. I don’t think I’ll ever date either. So.”</p><p class="p1">“Ever?” Robin repeated, even though she’d just said it so it seemed like she should understand. She looked at him, and Will met her eyes almost on accident.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know!” he shrugged, all of a sudden feeling like he had to explain himself. “I mean they’re awesome, but. Well, Steve’s awesome but you don’t want to go out with him, right?”</p><p class="p1">Robin nodded slowly, chewing on her lip. “Right,” she said.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah,” Will said. “And Steve’s kind of the coolest guy there is, so. If it’s not him, who would it be?”</p><p class="p1">“I… I’ve asked myself the same question,” Robin said, but she still sounded surprised.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, so. I feel that way too. But opposite,” Will said, and took a bowl from her to run it under the faucet.</p><p class="p1">She didn’t move for a second, and Will felt his face heat up as he tried not to worry that he’d said something wrong. He’d just agreed with her. But in the end Robin wasn’t upset or anything. “Okay,” she said. “Well. This might knock your socks off, but. Have you thought about the fact that girls aren’t the only option? For you?”</p><p class="p1">Will frowned at her on instinct, talking before he thought. “What, like I’m gay?” His mouth tasted funny; he swallowed hard.</p><p class="p1">“No,” Robin said. She wasn’t kidding, but she also wasn’t upset about it. Mom was usually upset, whenever Will caught her on the phone or whatever, saying Will might be gay. Robin was just… saying it. “Just something to think about,” she said, and handed him another bowl.</p><p class="p1">He took it, and dried it off. Will didn’t want to be thinking about this, not ever. “My dad always said I was a fag,” he finally said.</p><p class="p1">“Well, then your dad’s a bastard,” Robin answered.</p><p class="p1">“I think he is,” Will agreed, and Robin laughed.</p><p class="p1">“And,” she continued meaningfully, “whatever he had to say has nothing to do with what ends up being true or not.”</p><p class="p1">It sounded like she knew a lot about this kind of thing. Will looked at her, and after a second Robin looked back. She smiled a little bit. “It’s okay. Either way. Do you know that?”</p><p class="p1">“I don’t…” He didn’t want to lie, but at this exact moment, he had no idea what the truth was. Nothing was making any sense. He tried to say what had worked before. “I’m not gay,” he said.</p><p class="p1">“Okay,” Robin said, and then behind him said, “Hey El, all good?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">So El had heard some of that. She didn’t mean to, but she’d gone towards the kitchen to get a drink, and Mike was hanging out with Nancy and Steve for the moment. So El was alone, and she was apparently quiet, because she heard them talking before she knew what she was hearing. And then she heard Will say he wasn’t gay, and the thing about that was that she knew what it sounded like when Will was lying.</p><p class="p1">All she could think about was what Max had said last year, a long time ago. “Brothers lie.” El had believed her, but she hadn’t thought it would’ve been such a big one.</p><p class="p1">“Hi,” she answered Robin. “Just getting a drink.”</p><p class="p1">They didn’t act like anything was weird, so El didn’t either. She went back to sit down with Mike and Nancy and Steve, and tried to act normal.</p><p class="p1">Though, now that she was thinking about it, there was something, kind of, there. The rest of the night, she kept noticing how Will looked at Steve, and sometimes at Billy. And then, even, she thought about how he talked about Mike when she talked about him, how he seemed to kind of love Mike just as much as she did. And, of course he did. He and Mike were best friends. But now she was thinking about it in other ways, and she couldn’t stop.</p><p class="p1">El didn’t feel any particular way about gay things. She hadn’t thought about it until she was with Kali in Chicago, really, but then Dottie had made a reference to when Kali and her were together. El didn’t realize that wasn’t totally normal everywhere until she went to high school. And she still thought it was dumb. She probably would’ve loved Mike if he was a girl anyways. Whatever.</p><p class="p1">But it was obviously a big deal to Will, so El didn’t say anything. They had bigger things to deal with, anyways.</p><p class="p1">She and Will brainstormed about how to bring this up to Max for a while that night, when it was just the two of them in their room. They put their heels up on the wall and stared at the ceiling and tried to come up with a way to suggest Max and her mom moved out that didn’t sound like such a big deal. No luck.</p><p class="p1">In the end, Mike just blurted it out. El thought she probably should’ve seen that coming.</p><p class="p1">They were walking to the arcade, all six of them. Dustin and Lucas had made it a lot further because El and Max were walking slower, and Mike and Will stuck by them, so really it was just the four of them. And Max said something about her mom and how she couldn’t do something she wanted to, and Mike said, “She could probably do it if she left him.”</p><p class="p1">Max stared at him. “Uh,” she said. “That was very out of line.”</p><p class="p1">“Was it?” Mike shrugged. “Just an idea. Don’t tell me you like Billy’s dad now.”</p><p class="p1">“I didn’t say that.”</p><p class="p1">“Well, then what are you saying?”</p><p class="p1">“What are <em>you</em> saying?” Max demanded, and the two of them slowed to a stop.</p><p class="p1">And Mike just said it. Like El and probably Will both knew he would, on some level. Mike was never great at secrets. “Why don’t you and your mom go? We know things aren’t good, you’re not great at pretending they are. I saw you had a bruise on your arm.”</p><p class="p1">“What?” El said sharply. He had left that out, before.</p><p class="p1">“I didn’t want you to freak out,” Mike said to her.</p><p class="p1">“Too bad!” El looked at Will, who was similarly shocked in a more quiet way. “Max.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m fine,” Max insisted shortly to her, and then looked around at all of them. “I don’t want any of you to get involved, this isn’t your problem.”</p><p class="p1">“Wrong!” Mike said loudly. “It is our problem, because we’re your friends, idiot.”</p><p class="p1">Max didn’t argue back. She looked at El, and Will, and then back at Mike and said, “Where would she even go?”</p><p class="p1">“Nancy has some ideas,” El said.</p><p class="p1">“Oh great, so you’ve talked to Nancy?” Max sighed.</p><p class="p1">“Spoiler alert,” Mike said, a little more collected. “We’ve talked to basically everybody. Or Billy did, because he’s super worried about you but doesn’t know how to ask or something.”</p><p class="p1">“I think Billy probably meant for that to be a secret,” Will said under his breath.</p><p class="p1">Mike made a face at him. “If he really wanted it to be a secret he wouldn’t have asked everybody to help.”</p><p class="p1">“Everybody?” Max asked, and her face was a little happier.</p><p class="p1">“Yes,” El said. “We care about you. Really.” And she looked at Will then too, because she wanted him to get that message too.</p><p class="p1">Lucas and Dustin shouted for them, up ahead, so they started walking again. “Okay,” Max said. “Not that you did it in a good way, but you might have a good point.”</p><p class="p1">“I definitely do have a good point,” Mike said crossly, and took El’s hand. Will fell into step next to Max.</p><p class="p1">“You also definitely didn’t say it in a good way,” El said to him in an undertone.</p><p class="p1">Mike gave her a look, very fed up. “I’m doing my best,” he said.</p><p class="p1">At the end of the day, El thought, they all were.</p>
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